Alberta Health Services has started collecting N95 masks for the possibility of sterilizing and reusing them.
AHS made the announcement that face masks may be reused when the province’s modeling data was released.
At present, the AHS president and CEO stated that some initial testing had been done that showed N95 masks could be steam-sterilized.
In a statement from AHS, N95 1870+ respirators are being collected from intensive care units in the Calgary and Edmonton zones and that around 80% of health-care workers use this model. Currently, the collected N95 1870+ respirators are not being circulated back to AHS facilities.
AHS is only collecting the N95 1870+ model right now since it is the only model known to withstand the steam sterilization process but stated that it will look at other models down the line.
Health-care workers have been told that masks that are visibly soiled, ripped, or torn or that have damaged elastics should be disposed of.
It remains unclear, at this point, whether the sterilization process would occur at AHS facilities or off-site and how long it would take to turnaround supplies for reuse.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/09/30/mask-guidelines-covid-faq/?arc404=true