COVID-19 Global Pandemic Planning: Decontamination and Reuse Processes for N95 Respirators

Douglas Jay Perkins; Steven Villescas; Terry H Wu; Timothy B Muller; Steven Bradfute; Ivy Foo-Hurwitz; Qiuying Cheng; Hannah Wilcox; Myissa Weiss; Chris Bartlett; Jens Langsjoen; Phil Seidenberg

Based on the available literature and consultation with subject matter experts throughout the planning phase, we prioritized VHP decontamination of FFRs as a top-choice by mid-February, and subsequently began developing our processes. Additional influence for our choice included: 1) HPV technology is a widely used industry standard for decontamination/sterilization in research and medical facilities, and 2) improved hydrogen peroxide has the lowest EPA acute toxicity category (i.e., category IV) meaning that it is essentially non-toxic and not an irritant for oral, inhalation, and dermal routes of administration 8,9 . For additional validation of our choice for HPV decontamination, the CDC recently released information about FFR decontamination and reuse as a "crisis capacity strategy to ensure continued availability", and HPV was listed as one of the most promising potential methods 10 .