PSA: Please Don’t Microwave Your N95 Masks
Healthcare Workers Are Bleaching, Baking, and Microwaving Their Masks. We Owe Them Better Alternatives.
Notice: This post is for informational purposes only. Always adhere to your hospital’s policies and procedures.
With mask shortages happening all over the country, desperate healthcare workers are being forced to disinfect and reuse N95 FFR masks.
This week, Stanford Medicine released a document outlining the best (and worst) procedures for disinfecting masks.
Using this data (and data from additional studies) we can create a ranking as follows (worst to best):
Vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP) and ethylene oxide gas sterilization methods were also tested (and found effective at preserving mask efficacy), though limited throughput and the need for specialized equipment makes these methods less attractive.
If I was a healthcare worker forced to disinfect my mask at home, I would likely suspend my mask above boiling water for 10–20min. If I had access to a low-heat oven (not a kitchen oven) I could use the dry heat method.
With minimal additional equipment, I could also build a DIY UVC disinfection station or adapt a CPAP UVC cleaner. But the best move would be to get your staff on board and come up with a mask disinfection plan for your entire team. The University of Nebraska medical staff did just that (using UVC) and undoubtedly they’ll be in better shape if mask shortages continue.
