Windstar Cruises has announced a new health and safety program, Beyond Ordinary Care, which aims to create a safer environment onboard its ships.

“The Beyond Ordinary Care program is a multi-faceted strategy with key hospital-grade elements: HEPA filters and UV-C ultraviolet germicidal irradiation to filter and disinfect the air, plus EvaClean with PurTab to sanitize all surfaces throughout the yacht,” the company stated.

It will be installed in its HVAC system on every ship before they resume operation, Windstar Cruises added.

The program was developed in consultation with the epidemiology department at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Center. According to a press release, implementing it required a “multi-million-dollar investment.”

The use of UV-C lights, in conjunction with the HEPA filtrations, will “allow for a high level of disinfection of the air supply within our HVAC system.”

“In addition to disinfecting the circulating air, the installation of these two components will drastically reduce the amount of microorganisms within the HVAC system. This, in turn, will reduce the amount of biofilm formation within the HVAC system components, which is a key factor in preventing Legionella growth and possible infection,” the company said.

Dr. Michelle Barron, a professor at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Center, referred to the new system, combined with good hygiene from guests, as “the safest environment achievable with tech and science as we know it today.”

“When you’re sailing on a Windstar yacht, your biggest worry should be how to avoid a sunburn, not getting COVID-19,” she said.

The program was already successfully installed on the Wind Spirit, while the Wind Surf and Wind Star were undergoing the upgrade in late November, according to the company’s social media pages