In its continuing fight to secure safe personal protection equipment (PPE) for COVID-19 front-line workers, New Jersey now has access to a decontamination system for masks.
The New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, with the assistance of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and The Defense Logistics Agency, has secured the Battelle Critical Care Decontamination System (CCDS) to assist healthcare providers, first responders, and other agencies in decontaminating and preserving critically needed N95 respirators at no charge to the sending agencies.
“Safe personal protective equipment is critical in protecting our front-line healthcare workers and first responders,” said Gov. Phil Murphy.
N95 Decontamination
The Battelle CCDS is designed to work on N95 respirators to decontaminate biological contaminants including novel coronavirus, making them available for reuse by healthcare workers and first responders.
The system can decontaminate up to 80,000 N95 respirators a day. Using the system, each N95 respirator can be decontaminated up to 20 times and still maintain sufficient filtration performance.
“Thanks to the prudent planning of our Coronavirus Task Force, we were able to secure this decontamination system early, which will help preserve our existing personal protective equipment supply and enhance New Jersey’s response effort,” said Murphy.
FDA Approved
The system, which has been authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, helps address the current shortage of critical PPE across the country.
“In addition to securing an adequate supply, clean and safe (PPE) is essential to protect our healthcare workers, first responders and others engaged in fighting COVID-19,” said New Jersey Department of Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli.
Centrally Located
The Battelle CCDS is centrally located in Edison and can service any agency or hospital in the entire state.
“Healthcare providers and agencies throughout the state can utilize this system at no cost and help protect their limited resources,” said Persichilli.
Battelle representatives will coordinate the enrollment and decontamination process for interested agencies. Agencies that require additional information or wish to enroll in the program must fill out a form.
