The corona pandemic is continuing. There are more and more infected people and fewer and fewer protective masks. The federal government therefore recommends disinfecting, drying and reusing protective masks in the healthcare sector. The Offenburg Clinic has already had good experiences with this. The drying cabinets from BINDER GmbH are the solution here.
The federal government has found a pragmatic solution to remedy the shortage of protective equipment in the healthcare sector. The drying cabinets from Tuttlingen are used for this. With this, Minister of Health Jens Spahn would like to protect the staff in the health and care sector from COVID-19. “The protection of personnel in the health and care sector has top priority. It is good that we were able to find a safe solution for possible delivery bottlenecks quickly and with foresight, ”said Jens Spahn in a press release from the federal government.
The Federal Ministry of Health recommends using breathing masks with a filter function (FFP 2 and FFP 3) a maximum of three times. The new process is done by properly personalizing, collecting and decontaminating the masks by heating. This can be done with the help of a drying cabinet without lowering the level of protection.
The Federal Ministry proposes decontamination of the masks by heat inactivating SARS-CoV-2 using dry heat at 65 to 70 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes. “This measure could thus be implemented across the board,” the communication says. And further: "Among other things, the decontamination removes corona viruses." It is important, however, that the masks are CE marked, as these ensure that the material and contour can withstand this process.
According to research by the Federal Ministry, mouth-nose protective masks (MNS) can also be reused after suitable reprocessing at 65 to 70 degrees Celsius. Only in the operating theater should the protection no longer be used - however, it can be reused in day-to-day ward operations without any problems.
The clinic in Offenburg has remedied its lack of protective equipment with half and full masks from Dräger and Auer and a drying cabinet from BINDER. These are dried at 45 degrees Celsius for 45 minutes. The drying process is preceded by disinfecting the protective masks with a special mask washer from Top Clean M. Sekumatic FDR from Ecolab is used as a cleaner.
The managing partner of BINDER GmbH, Peter Michael Binder, sees himself prepared for the recommendation of the Federal Ministry of Health: “Yes, we produce fully. The clinics can use our drying cabinets. We will do everything we can to support the people in the corona crisis. "
