STONY BROOK, N.Y. — A newly approved N95 mask decontamination system is bringing relief to health care workers on Long Island amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Battelle Critical Care Decontamination System can clean up to 80,000 masks per day. The system was set up at Stony Brook University and began its first round of mask cleanings on Friday.
The cleaning system exposes the respirator masks to concentrated, vapor phase hydrogen peroxide for 2 1/2 hours to decontaminate biological contaminants, including SARS-CoV-2, according to Battelle.
The FDA issued an emergency authorization of the decontamination system last week to provide much-needed support to health care workers responding to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The company is also in negotiations to deploy a second system to an undisclosed location in the state.
As of Saturday, Nassau and Suffolk counties had a combined 24,716 cases of COVID-19, according to state health officials.
