…and someone shielded the recording electronics of a 360° camera and shoved it through there.
Apparently, the electrons interact with the DNA of biological pathogens enough to render is unusable, while materials are unaffected.
I assume the visual noise before and after passing through the veil of electrons is from the electrons interacting with stuff and being reflected at random angles.
Literally my first thought. This is why women’s pants now have pockets after decades without. It is a global conspiracy! /s