N95 mask creator steps out of retirement to find ways to clean and reuse the gear

Peter Tsai, a retired University of Tennessee professor who helped create the N95 mask, has gotten back to work in recent weeks with a singular goal -- finding the best way to safely reuse the mask.

Health workers on the front line of the coronavirus pandemic have been relying heavily on the N95 mask to lower their chances of infection, but the masks are in short supply, and until recently it wasn’t known for certain if they could be safely reused.

Tsai is credited with inventing the material used in N95 masks that protects the wearer from potentially dangerous particles. Over the last few weeks, Tsai has been inundated with messages from doctors and nurses, asking how they could disinfect their masks and use them again -- and Tsai is responding, NPR reported.

“I just want to help people, and just do my job,” Tsai told NPR on Friday.

A team of researchers called N95DECON, made up of “scientists, engineers, clinicians, and students from universities across the US” has been developing solutions as well and turned to Tsai for input.

Maha Krishnamoorthi, a colleague of Tsai’s with the University of Tennessee, said to him, “You seem to be the man of the hour.”

He replied, “No -- I’m man of the minute,” she told NPR.

Tsai told the outlet he’s not the one deserving attention.

“The front-line hospital workers — they are heroes. I’m just trying to help them to wear the mask,” he said.

Many hospital workers have been using more basic cleaning methods on their masks, like wiping down or spraying them with alcohol, which can “degrade the filtration efficiency,” according to N95DECON.

Earlier this month, Tsai began researching if the masks could be sanitized with high heat and still maintain their integrity and be effective, Vice reported.

The National Institutes of Health released findings Wednesday stating the single-use masks can be worn again up to three times, provided they are properly disinfected.

There are four ways to effectively sanitize an N95 mask without rendering it ineffectual, according to the NIH: vaporized hydrogen peroxide, heating them to 158 degrees Fahrenheit, exposing them to ultraviolet light, or cleaning with a 70 percent ethanol spray.