Electric cooker an easy, efficient way to sanitize N95 masks, study finds • Hacker News Board

Re: Electric cooker an easy, efficient way to sanitize N95 masks, study finds

#131

Post by westurner » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 3:27 PM UTC

argonaut wrote: post #82

None of this is necessary for non-healthcare workers, since the virus will die off on a fabric mask in a few hours. 1) Not a single study has demonstrated that viable Sars-Cov-2 virus survives on porous materials in the real world 2) Even before Covid, it was known for decades (common medical knowledge) that human coronaviruses and flu viruses do not remain viable on porous materials for more than several hours. That…

"Interim Recommendations for U.S. Households with Suspected or Confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)" https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-si... :

> On the other hand, transmission of novel coronavirus to persons from surfaces contaminated with the virus has not been documented. Recent studies indicate that people who are infected but do not have symptoms likely also play a role in the spread of COVID-19. Transmission of coronavirus occurs much more commonly through respiratory droplets than through objects and surfaces, like doorknobs, countertops, keyboards, toys, etc. Current evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2 may remain viable for hours to days on surfaces made from a variety of materials. Cleaning of visibly dirty surfaces followed by disinfection is a best practice measure for prevention of COVID-19 and other viral respiratory illnesses in households and community settings

Re: Electric cooker an easy, efficient way to sanitize N95 masks, study finds

#132

Post by westurner » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 3:33 PM UTC

cf100clunk wrote: post #53

An autoclave is what the electrical cooker is being used to emulate. A pressure cooker is a better option if you'll be on the road, camping, or otherwise without electricity. Researchers in Canada already proved several months ago that N95 masks could be sanitized this way: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22761264

Unfortunately the referenced NewsArticle does not link to the ScholarlyArticle https://schema.org/ScholarlyArticle :

"N95 Mask Decontamination using Standard Hospital Sterilization Technologies" (2020-04) https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.05.20049346v... :

> We sought to test the ability of 4 different decontamination methods including autoclave treatment, ethylene oxide gassing, ionized hydrogen peroxide fogging and vaporized hydrogen peroxide exposure to decontaminate 4 different N95 masks of experimental contamination with SARS-CoV-2 or vesicular stomatitis virus as a surrogate. In addition, we sought to determine whether masks would tolerate repeated cycles of decontamination while maintaining structural and functional integrity. We found that one cycle of treatment with all modalities was effective in decontamination and was associated with no structural or functional deterioration. Vaporized hydrogen peroxide treatment was tolerated to at least 5 cycles by masks. Most notably, standard autoclave treatment was associated with no loss of structural or functional integrity to a minimum of 10 cycles for the 3 pleated mask models. The molded N95 mask however tolerated only 1 cycle. This last finding may be of particular use to institutions globally due to the virtually universal accessibility of autoclaves in health care settings.

The ScholarlyArticle referenced by and linked to by the OP NewsArticle is "Dry Heat as a Decontamination Method for N95 Respirator Reuse" (2020-07) https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00534 . Said article does not reference "N95 Mask Decontamination using Standard Hospital Sterilization Technologies" DOI: 10.1101/2020.04.05.20049346v2 . We would do well to record that (article A, seemsToConfirm, Article B) as third-party linked data (only if both articles do specifically test the efficacy of the given sterilization method with the COVID-19 coronavirus)

Re: Electric cooker an easy, efficient way to sanitize N95 masks, study finds

#133

Post by collyw » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 4:46 PM UTC

Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #45

necovek wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am sure they perform sterilization effectively, but introduction of water/steam (which is under pressure in a "pressure" cooker) will almost certainly deform a mask like an N95 mask.

I thought electric cooker uses less water in contrast to no water.

It has a bit of water in the bottom, it effectively steams things.

Re: Electric cooker an easy, efficient way to sanitize N95 masks, study finds

#134

Post by Voliokis » Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 12:48 AM UTC

Someone wrote: post #126

Voliokis wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why governments haven't made the contracts and guarantees to ensure increased global production over the long-term (not just for Covid-19). We're going to need a much higher rate of production for years to come, yet everybody keeps thinking "Next month! It'll all be over next month!". I'm tired of this shit, and I'm tired of governments thinking so short-sightedly. The EU alone could make a huge di…

“but they're so unwilling to actually effect positive change in the world by using their position as a unified region” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regula... , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restriction_of_Hazardous_Subst... (Both examples of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels_effect ) Thing is: if the long term necessity for increased production of N95 masks were a no-brainer, companies w…

> If governments subsidized producers, and it turns out we end up with more masks then we need,

There's no way to end up with more masks than you need. Masks don't expire. If you're worried about the elastic expiring, require designs where the straps are easily replaceable or removable.

And masks are absolutely necessary for the future. Companies can't rely on society recognizing this, which is why they can't blindly commit to building the capacity for it. But that has nothing to do with how necessary masks are for the current situation and for the future. It's just another typical case of market failure, in the sense that a free market won't optimize for the same things you would if your priorities include things like environmental protection and health. This is something that needs to be regulated and subsidized by governments, who are supposed to be protecting us from future risks instead of pretending that there's nothing they ever could've done and nobody could've foreseen a global pandemic.

Also, if a government cares more about looking good than doing the right thing, then it's a bad government.