Standard hospital blanket warming cabinets can be utilized for complete moist heat SARS-CoV2 inactivation of contaminated N95 masks for re-use.
Sci Rep
; 11(1): 18316, 2021 09 15.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1412847
ABSTRACT
Shortages of personal protective equipment for use during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic continue to be an issue among health-care workers globally. Extended and repeated use of N95 filtering facepiece respirators without adequate decontamination is of particular concern. Although several methods to decontaminate and re-use these masks have been proposed, logistic or practical issues limit adoption of these techniques. In this study, we propose and validate the use of the application of moist heat (70 °C with humidity augmented by an open pan of water) applied by commonly available hospital (blanket) warming cabinets to decontaminate N95 masks. This report shows that a variety of N95 masks can be repeatedly decontaminated of SARS-CoV-2 over 6 h moist heat exposure without compromise of their filtering function as assessed by standard fit and sodium chloride aerosol filtration efficiency testing. This approached can easily adapted to provide point-of-care N95 mask decontamination allowing for increased practical utility of mask recycling in the health care setting.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Decontamination
/
N95 Respirators
/
SARS-CoV-2
Type of study:
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Sci Rep
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S41598-021-97345-w
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