As health workers and first responders in the United States try to stem a pandemic without adequate protective gear, health officials are forced to consider a stopgap – decontaminating and reusing N95 masks to shield those whose jobs expose them to the virus that causes COVID-19.
As health workers and first responders in the United States try to stem a pandemic without adequate protective gear, health officials are forced to consider a stopgap – decontaminating and reusing N95 masks to shield those whose jobs expose them to the virus that causes COVID-19.
Today, a team of 60 scientists and engineers, students and clinicians, drawn from universities and the private sector, are unveiling N95decon.org, a website that synthesizes the scientific literature about mask decontamination to create a set of best practices to decontaminate and reuse this protective face covering during the current emergency.
“While there is no perfect method for decontamination of N95 masks, it is crucial that decision-makers and users have as much information as possible about the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches,” said Manu Prakash, an associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford who helped coordinate this ad hoc, volunteer undertaking. “We aim to provide information and evidence in this critical time to help those on the front lines of this crisis make risk management decisions given the specific conditions and limitations they face.”
Read more at Stanford University
Image by Engin_Akyurt from Pixabay
