Decontamination of SARS-CoV-2 on Filtering Face Piece Respirators with Vapor Phase Hydrogen Peroxide and Post Decontamination Performance

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, N95 filtering face piece respirators (FFRs) were in short supply or not available. As a result, decontamination for reuse was authorized to deal with the temporary shortages under Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The use of vapor phase hydrogen peroxide (VPHP) is the method used in 13 of the EUAs issued. While the efficacy of the VPHP method has been demonstrated for a variety of organisms, it previously had not been shown for an EUA authorized process with SARS-CoV-2 in biologically relevant matrices. This study demonstrated the efficacy of VPHP decontamination on FFRs contaminated with SARS-CoV-2, as well as the impact of decontamination on FFR performance.