{"id":23590,"date":"2020-05-20T15:57:16","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T19:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=23590"},"modified":"2020-05-20T15:57:16","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T19:57:16","slug":"inside-the-somerville-facility-thats-decontaminated-100000-masks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2020\/05\/20\/inside-the-somerville-facility-thats-decontaminated-100000-masks\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Somerville Facility That\u2019s Decontaminated 100,000 Masks"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment23592\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment23592\" style=\"width: 646px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/wtbu\/files\/2020\/05\/Faulds_BattelleMaskDecon-2-636x424.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"636\" height=\"424\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-23592\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2020\/05\/Faulds_BattelleMaskDecon-2-636x424.jpg 636w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2020\/05\/Faulds_BattelleMaskDecon-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2020\/05\/Faulds_BattelleMaskDecon-2-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment23592\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jade Klinger unloads used N95 masks for decontamination at Battelle&#8217;s Somerville CCDS facility. Photo by Caitlin Faulds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"300\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/824647180&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true&amp;visual=true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Inside the Somerville Facility That\u2019s Decontaminated 100,000 Masks<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">by Caitlin Faulds<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">A mask decontamination facility based in the loading bay of an old Kmart in Somerville\u2019s Assembly Row has cleaned more than 100,000 masks for reuse since mid-April, according to facility operator <a href=\"https:\/\/www.battelle.org\/about-us#our_mission\"><span class=\"s1\">Battelle Memorial Institute<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.battelle.org\/inb\/battelle-critical-care-decontamination-system-for-covid19\"><span class=\"s1\">Critical Care Decontamination System<\/span><\/a> facility, run by Battelle in partnership with the City of Somerville and Partners Healthcare, was the fourth N95 mask decontamination facility to be built in the US and is the second busiest nationwide, says President of Contract Research Matthew Vaughan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cIt\u2019s just been an amazing journey,\u201d Vaughan says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">On March 29th, in response to a nationwide shortage of personal protective equipment, or PPE, the FDA handed down approval for the Ohio-based nonprofit to develop a network of mask decontamination sites in coronavirus hotspots, Vaughan says. Each one has the ability to decontaminate more than 80,000 medical-grade masks each day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cWe&#8217;d all want everyone to have a new N95 every day,\u201d he says. \u201cThe next best thing to that is one that has been decontaminated with a proven, scientifically validated process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Now, Vaughan says there are more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.battelle.org\/inb\/battelle-ccds-for-covid19-satellite-locations\"><span class=\"s1\">40 CCDS facilities<\/span><\/a> across the country, with more expected as the pandemic spreads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cI have no crystal ball and I don\u2019t think any of us know what will come next,\u201d Vaughan says. \u201cBut what we do know is that these systems provide a buffer for that N95 supply chain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Site Lead Jonathan Coyle says it\u2019s been no small task to get these sites up and running. He helped develop facilities in Stony Brook, N.Y. and Tacoma, Wash. before stepping in at the Boston-area site at the beginning of May.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThis is definitely by far the best one in my opinion,\u201d he says, \u201cnot biased at all or anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment23591\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment23591\" style=\"width: 646px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/wtbu\/files\/2020\/05\/Faulds_BattelleMaskDecon-1-636x424.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"636\" height=\"424\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-23591\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2020\/05\/Faulds_BattelleMaskDecon-1-636x424.jpg 636w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2020\/05\/Faulds_BattelleMaskDecon-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2020\/05\/Faulds_BattelleMaskDecon-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment23591\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jordan Welnetz double checks James Henry&#8217;s PPE before before he heads into the mask decontamination chamber at Battelle&#8217;s Somerville CCDS facility. Photo by Caitlin Faulds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p1\">Every site is different \u2013 some indoors, some outside \u2013 but Coyle says they\u2019re typically made up of about eight chambers, four for storage and four used as decontamination chambers. Here in the Somerville facility, due to the size of the room, there are just three chambers used for storage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThis is the only real layout that worked for this footprint,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Inside the decontamination chambers \u2013 hung with Bruins, Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics banners in a statement of Boston pride \u2013 Coyle says staff members in biohazard suits called PAPRs, or powered air purifying respirators, arrange thousands of used masks. Then, he says vapor phase hydrogen peroxide is pumped through the chamber for several hours until it reaches a concentration known to eliminate any traces of coronavirus or other contaminants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cFrom there, we then start the aeration process,\u201d Coyle says. \u201cSo just as we pumped all that hydrogen peroxide in, we now need to pump that out. That\u2019s usually our longest phase right now, it\u2019s kind of where our bottleneck is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">When all VPHP is removed, Coyle says the staff heads back in with clean PAPRs to sort the masks by five-digit identification number and box them up for couriers to return to their original location \u2013 one of 480 collection points including hospitals, clinics and fire and police departments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">All the masks go back to the same individual, according to Battelle, helping to ensure continued mask fit and lessen the user\u2019s risk of COVID-19 infection. When they\u2019ve been used again, the masks will come back through the facility \u2013 decontaminated and reused up to 20 times, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.battelle.org\/docs\/default-source\/commercial-offerings\/industry-solutions\/instructions-for-healthcare-facilities---03-29-2020---615pm-revision.pdf?sfvrsn=7bfd20f1_2\"><span class=\"s1\">Battelle policy<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cIt\u2019s a whole process,\u201d Coyle says. \u201cIt\u2019s just a big loop pretty much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Battelle\u2019s been working on mask decontamination projects for several decades and developed this system as part of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/emergency-preparedness-and-response\/mcm-regulatory-science\/investigating-decontamination-and-reuse-respirators-public-health-emergencies\"><span class=\"s1\">study completed in 2016<\/span><\/a> which considered the feasibility of reusing masks during emergency scenarios. Last month, the National Institutes of Health <a href=\"https:\/\/www.niaid.nih.gov\/news-events\/nih-study-validates-decontamination-methods-re-use-n95-respirators\"><span class=\"s1\">confirmed VPHP<\/span><\/a> as the \u201cmost effective decontamination method\u201d tested, citing its ability to remove contaminants in just ten minutes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Back in its Ohio laboratories, Battelle is working on \u201cquite a few\u201d other technologies to help with the coronavirus pandemic, according to Vaughan. He says their projects include research into decontamination methods for other PPE, a collaboration with Boston-based <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ginkgobioworks.com\/covid-19\/\"><span class=\"s1\">Ginkgo Bioworks<\/span><\/a> to develop large-scale diagnostic solutions and the testing of coronavirus vaccines and therapies in biosafety labs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cIt&#8217;s really gratifying to be able to have our researchers who have been toiling away in obscurity for so long have their research be able to make a real-world impact,\u201d says Vaughan. \u201cWe wish we didn&#8217;t have to, but we&#8217;re glad that we&#8217;re here and able to do that.\u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inside the Somerville Facility That\u2019s Decontaminated 100,000 Masks by Caitlin Faulds A mask decontamination facility based in the loading bay of an old Kmart in Somerville\u2019s Assembly Row has cleaned more than 100,000 masks for reuse since mid-April, according to facility operator Battelle Memorial Institute. The Critical Care Decontamination System facility, run by Battelle in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17683,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1598,1599,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17683"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23590"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23593,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23590\/revisions\/23593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}