N95 Masks are an integral part of the Personal Protective Equipment for all frontline workers. They were never designed to be reused. But the COVID-19 pandemic has left the world grappling with a shortage of N95 masks, putting our frontline workers at considerable risk of exposure. There is a massive effort globally to find solutions to provide N95 mask, include increased production and finding innovative ways to enable the reuse of the single use mask.
One such innovation has come out of the Virginia Commonwealth University Health (VCU Health), that has developed a decontamination process for the N95 masks, using high intensity UV rays. The process designed by VCU Health can decontaminate upto 12000 masks in one go.