Decontaminating N95 respirators during the COVID-19 pandemic: simple and practical approaches to increase decontamination capacity, speed, safety and ease of use.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a severe shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), especially N95 respirators. Efficient, effective and economically feasible methods for large-scale PPE decontamination are urgently needed.

Aims

(1) to develop protocols for effectively decontaminating PPE using vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP); (2) to develop novel approaches that decrease set-up and take-down time while also increasing decontamination capacity; (3) to test decontamination efficiency for N95 respirators heavily contaminated by make-up or moisturizers.

Methods

We converted a decommissioned Biosafety Level 3 laboratory into a facility that could be used to decontaminate N95 respirators. N95 respirators were hung on metal racks, stacked in piles, place

SUBMITTER: Russo R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7748974 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature