FDA grants emergency authorization to system that decontaminates N95 respirator masks for re-use


In an effort to fill the deficit of face masks for healthcare workers, the Food and Drug Administration gave emergency authorization to development and lab management company Battelle to sanitize used masks for reuse. Their system decontaminates N95 respirator masks using concentrated hydrogen peroxide and can turn single-use respirators into masks that can be used up to 20 times. The system is underway in their Ohio facility and is producing up to 80,000 masks per day.

This is a rapid response story about a coping strategy. Due to the urgent crisis, we are relaxing the ‘evidence of effectiveness’ criterion for solutions coverage on COVID-19 to capture early stage, improvisational, and experimental responses that cope with the pandemic.

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