Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The use of Heat for SARS-CoV-2 disinfection




There are four main methods to disinfect SARS-CoV-2 the virus that causes COVID-19.

  1. Time: The virus eventually no longer will be viable after a period of time. This depends on several things including the surface type, the temperature, and relative humidity. 
  2. Ultraviolet light (UV-C) also known as UVGI (Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation) at 254 nm works to alter the RNA of the SARS-CoV-2.
  3. Vaporized Hydrogen Peroxide 
  4. Temperature. Elevated temperatures reduce the viability of the virus.  

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Decontamination of respirators was effective at 70 degrees Celsius for 60 minutes. These elevated temperatures may cause damage to respirator components.  

Stanford Medicine has done multiple studies decontaminating respirators with UV-C and heat. In there study they found repeated heating of masks with hot air at 75C for 20 cycles did not damage a respirator. An 8 W UVGI (254 nm) for 30 minutes for 10 cycles did not damage the respirator.

As I reviewed the 3M website masks appeared to have different temperature tolerances. 

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