Use of Silica Beads to Dry N95 Respirators During Storage.

Abstract

The 2019 novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has caused an unprecedented use of personal protective equipment (PPE), especially the disposable filtering facepiece respirator (FFR), N95. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has provided crisis capacity strategies for FFR decontamination and reuse, including the drying of N95s in paper bags for 5 days to remove the moisture that could maintain virus viability. We tested the ability of food-grade silica bead packets to accelerate moisture removal from N95s during 24-hour time periods. Briefly, N95s sprayed with water were completely dehydrated by silica beads within 24 hours, as measured with a commercial moisture meter. Importantly, repeated wetting and drying (with silica) did not decrease the N95 ability to exclude the bitter taste of Bitrex during standard fit testing. We conclude that food-grade silica beads can desiccate wet N95s over 24 hours, removing moisture.