California nurses are being asked to reuse N95 respirators decontaminated by Hydrogen Peroxide Vapor (HPV) systems, they’re nervous about the safety of the respirators, and they are right. Unlike Helios, HPV decontamination will not work if the respirators has secretions from humans like facial oil. The oil creates a barrier to the decontaminating vapor, which will leave portions of the mask susceptible to viral load. Additionally, there are questions of how well HPV decontamination will work with moist respirators. Respirators will be moist from use…humans expel about 250ml of water from breathing throughout the day. If the respirators are moist at the start of the decontamination cycle, the hydrogen peroxide vapor can be diluted by the moisture, potentially affecting the efficacy of the decontamination cycle. Read the full story here.