Virus-killing fan-maker Big Ass Fans adds former CDC director as adviser
Dr. Robert Redfield will advise on health and safety for the company behind the Haiku UV-C.
- Ty was nominated for Best New Journalist at the Australian IT Journalism awards, but he has only ever won one thing. As a youth, he was awarded a free session for the photography studio at a local supermarket.
Big Ass Fans, the Kentucky-based maker of a virus-killing smart fan, is seeking to boost its COVID-19 credentials by adding the former head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to its ranks.
Former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield is now the strategic health and safety adviser for Big Ass Fans' Clean Air Systems. Redfield was appointed to the CDC by former President Donald Trump and served between 2018 and 2021. He's now found a new role at a time when some former Trump administration employees are having trouble landing new jobs.
Shortly after the onset of the pandemic last year, Big Ass Fans introduced the Haiku UV-C. The smart ceiling fan, which starts at $1,750, uses UV light to kill viruses, bacteria, mold and other harmful airborne agents. Independent tests have also suggested the fan can kill SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen that causes COVID-19.
Though no longer leading the CDC's response to the pandemic, Redfield sparked debate in March when he said he believes in an unproven virus origin theory. Redfield told CNN he believes the disease escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, without offering evidence. The World Health Organization suggests the virus most likely passed from bats to humans in its official report.
