The precious N95 respirators protecting health care workers and first responders on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic are getting an extended life thanks to a very specialized decontamination system that just arrived in Montana from the federal government.
It’s a Battelle Critical Care Decontamination System. It cleans and disinfects used N95 respirators.
Governor Steve Bullock’s office announced the arrival of the system Apr. 28. It will be housed at the Montana National Guard Army Aviation Support Facility in Helena. The National Guard will assist Battelle in operating the system.
The Battelle is a self contained, mobile decontamination unit that uses vapor phase hydrogen peroxide to disinfect N95 filtering facepiece respirators from contaminants, including the coronavirus.
The system can decontaminate 80,000 used N95 respirators per day. The governor’s office says a single respirator can be reused up to 20 times without degradation.
The decontamination is at no cost to all healthcare personnel but health care providers must enroll to use the system. Masks need to be unsoiled, free of blood, mucus, makeup or other soils or stains.
The Battelle system came from the federal government and when it is no longer needed it will be returned to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
