Abstract
As the current COVID-19 pandemic illustrates, not all hospitals and other patient care facilities are equipped with enough personal protective equipment to meet the demand in a crisis. Health care workers around the world use filtering facepiece respirators to protect themselves and their patients, yet during this global pandemic they are forced to reuse what are intended to be single-use masks. This poses a significant risk to these health care workers along with the people they are trying to protect. Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) has been validated previously as a method to effectively decontaminate these masks between use. However, not all facilities have access to the expensive commercial ultraviolet type C (UV-C) lamp decontamination equipment required for UVGI. UV-C bulbs are sitting idle in biosafety cabinets at universities and research facilities around the world that have been shuttered to slow the spread of COVID-19. These bulbs may also be available in existing medical centers where infectious diseases are commonly treated. We developed a method to modify existing light fixtures or create custom light fixtures that are compatible with new or existing UV-C bulbs. This system is scalable; can be created for less than US$50, on site and at the point of need; and leverages resources that are currently untapped and sitting unused in public and private research facilities during the pandemic. The freely accessible design can be easily modified for use around the world. Health care facilities can obtain this potentially lifesaving UVGI resource with minimal funds by collaborating with research facilities to obtain the UV-C meters and UV-C bulbs if they are unavailable from other sources. Although mask reuse is not ideal, we must do what we can in emergency situations to protect our health care workers responding to the pandemic and the communities they serve.
Highlights
Health care workers (HCWs) are critical to the care and treatment of individuals with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) or coronavirus disease known as COVID-19
Whereas much of the focus of HCW risk is on large hospitals and current hotspots that do not have access to filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs), called N95 masks in the United States, the spread of SARS-CoV-2 has affected residential facilities and rural clinics around the globe
The design plans we developed are not limited to biosafety cabinets (BSCs) ultraviolet type C (UV-C) bulbs, and we provide details to adapt them to any UV-C bulbs
Summary
Mask Reuse in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Creating an Inexpensive and Scalable Ultraviolet System for Filtering Facepiece Respirator Decontamination. Key Messages n Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) systems can be used to decontaminate filtering facepiece respirators that are in short supply during the current COVID-19 pandemic, but are costly and scarce. N Custom-built UVGI systems can be and affordably created using common items found in hardware stores and within research institutions. N Health care workers and administrators should consider this setup as a cost-effective option to combat personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages during the current pandemic. N Academic institutions should consider fostering collaborations with local health care institutions to provide idle resources to front line health care workers facing PPE shortages
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