The dropping temperature and cooler weather is leading to rise in COVID-19 cases in the U.S. This is what is observed in Europe and some other parts of the world. Meanwhile, supply-chain problems are likely to result in limited supplies of protective gear such as N95 masks. The strategies to decontaminate personal protective equipment remain unexplained in many hospitals with limited resources in several parts of the world.
To address this, a team of researchers at the University of Delaware have devised a system for decontaminating N95 masks. The system uses off-the-shelf materials available at any hardware store that is combined with ultraviolet type lights found in shuttered research laboratories.
Meanwhile, the method developed by University of Delaware offers comparable decontamination in comparison to more expensive methods at an affordable cost.
New Method Scalable, suitable for High throughput
“What could be a frugal way to decontaminate personal protective equipment in a very simple way’? A method that is easy to scale for high throughput for any healthcare facility to use it globally, said one of the associates of the study.
Earlier this year, the project was inspired by a doctoral candidate after knowing that friends in the medical field were donning N95 masks day after day.
Of course, today, decontamination of N95 masks is more widely known. Reason, the way media has been publicizing the issue.
From knowledge, it is known ultra-violet light type C is routinely used for sterilization of various materials and equipment used in research labs. To repurpose this technique to be used for decontaminating specialized masks, in a low-cost, scalable manner, specifically for front line workers, is what the doctoral candidate wondered.