The Colorado Unified Coordination Center received a Battelle Critical Care Decontamination System that cleans and disinfects used N95 respirators for reuse. The system will be installed at the Adams County Fairgrounds in the Exhibit Hall today.   The system will be returned to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) when no longer needed.

Battelle Critical Care Decontamination Systems are self-contained, mobile decontamination units that use vapor phase hydrogen peroxide to decontaminate N95 filtering facepiece respirators from biological contaminants, including SARS-CoV-2. The system can decontaminate up to 80,000 used N95 respirators per system per day, with a single respirator able to be reused up to 20 times without degradation.

The State of Colorado is approved for two systems by the U.S. HHS  and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  A second location is being secured within the state to house the second system.

All healthcare personnel are eligible for the free N95 decontamination, including emergency medical service personnel, nurses, nursing assistants, physicians, technicians, therapists, phlebotomists, pharmacists, dentists and dental hygienists, students and trainees, contractual staff not employed by the healthcare facility, and persons not directly involved in patient care, but who could be exposed to infectious agents that can be transmitted in the healthcare setting (e.g., clerical, dietary, environmental services, laundry, security, engineering and facilities management, administrative, billing, and volunteer personnel). Additionally, non-medical personnel participating in an emergency response due to COVID-19 also qualify as a healthcare professional under the Battelle Emergency Use Authorization.

How to sign up:

• To get N95 respirators cleaned, health care providers must first fill out an enrollment form at battelle.org/decon. 
• Battelle will return an email with links to the enrollment contract, instructions and the Battelle point of contact.
• The enrollee will be given a three-digit code, which must be written on the respirators with permanent marker.
• The respirators need to be unsoiled, free of blood, mucus, makeup, lip balm, etc. Place all masks into a single plastic bag and tie off the bag when it is full. Any soiled masks will be thrown out. The bag must be placed into a second plastic bag that should be wiped down with disinfectant. 
• The respirators must be placed into a shipping box and labeled with the three-digit code and a biohazard sticker.
• The enrollee contacts a shipper to coordinate pickup and delivery. 

Follow the step-by-step process of how to submit respirators for decontamination.

Continue to stay up to date by visiting covid19.colorado.gov.

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