How Do You Propose to Decontaminate the N95 Masks: A Complete Overview?

There’s just one word that is ubiquitous at the moment: pandemic or Novel Coronavirus/ Covid-19. The virus or also termed as the biological war/ the catalyst for the creation of the great wars to come has nearly claimed 298K lives, infected 4.37M public and almost more than 1.56 M have recovered.

Let alone just the recovery, even when you consider a population of 7 billion and Novel Coronavirus affecting just 4.37 M, it is a great number, an achievement of control and resilience the world has shown to contain it in its infancy and evolutionary stages. Social distancing and Personal Protective Equipment(PPE) have played a key role, especially the N95 masks that are protecting the frontline corona warriors (doctors, nurses and hospital staff) to fight the pandemic. The major concern however is the availability of these PPE kits and the cost proposition attached to the same. Most PPE manufacturers have exorbitantly inflated the prices of these equipment and made their supply doubtful for the common public. So, to help everyone who is concerned about their personal safety, here is a complete analysis done on decontaminating the N-95 masks so that they serve a larger purpose for you.

Use of Hydrogen Peroxide Vapour (HPV) For N95 Mask Decontamination

When you have plans to decontaminate the mask, there are numerous processes that must be followed in the first place. Extreme caution is necessary as it may otherwise compromise with the features of the mask. If any or all properties of the mask get compromised, it will dilute its impact to fight the MERS SARS Cov-2 virus. So, the use of HPV or Ultra-Violet rays or light as an effective gateway that can right-away kill the virus works well for ensuring safety and protection. There are multiple other processes that the University of Nebraska and Duke are jointly researching upon to streamline the process.  The clinical trials are going on that will simplify the process of cleaning the mask with all the comforts at your home or clinic with cost effective ways. If you are buying the N95 masks on a large scale for medicinal purposes or other aspects, these specific techniques can better work to clean and sanitize the same for better protection.

How does the Process of Decontamination of the N95 masks happen for the public?

When you have to deal with a large quantity of these N95 masks, the chances of infection due to negligence is quite high. As a result of that, the researchers have streamlined a process that sanitizes the mask and makes it suitable for reuse. They begin with removing the masks first from their storage packages and they are put on customized racks where they undergo the decontamination process. During the process, with the specific use of the machines, the quality of the masks is first analyzed to see if they can be put to reuse. Whether they are freshly imported or kept for cleansing after reuse, a specific process determines how things will go far for the process to yield results.

In the later stages, all of these N95 masks are wheeled to a process chamber, which is also called the decontamination chamber.

In those chambers, there is HPV in a vaporized state that kills the contamination on the masks. All the viruses are neutralized in the empty operating room and they do keep due caution that the room has been duly sealed with no cracks or fissures that might result in the virus outbreak.  Once the process is complete, the masks are then run through machines that check their contamination level and if all the masks are decontaminated as per the machine reports, they are again rendered fit for a reuse.


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