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I read the following in a private email:

One of my neighbors emailed me and said he has a few masks that he uses and recycles them; he wears one, when done he carefully stores it into a sealed plastic bag, uses the next one, does the same, and eventually 7 or more days (or masks) later, he rotates back to the original one and repeats the entire cycle. He mentioned that his assumption is that after 7+ days, the coronavirus is probably neutralized. I’m considering whether to adopt this method, or perhaps combine it with some combination of heat, ozone, and/or UV.

How many days does one have to wait before reusing a surgical or respiratory mask so that it is free of the SARS-CoV-2 virus?

I have crossposted the question at:

Franck Dernoncourt
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  • Duplicate of https://medicalsciences.stackexchange.com/q/21655/3414 – Graham Chiu Mar 27 '20 at 12:18
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    At work we are told to through n95 mask in garbage at end of 8 hours. I'm bagging mine and taking them home just in case we run out in a month. Spanish flu lasted for three years. Everyone is living day to day and no one has projected further than extending lock downs by 14 or 21 days at a time. – WinEunuuchs2Unix Mar 27 '20 at 19:58
  • @WinEunuuchs2Unix thanks, interesting. in which country do you work if I may ask? In some French hospitals I'm told that used masks are kept in some storage room in case of penury. – Franck Dernoncourt Mar 27 '20 at 20:00
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    I work in a warehouse in Canada. PPE is one of our product lines. – WinEunuuchs2Unix Mar 27 '20 at 20:02
  • "penury" is an interesting word I had to look up. Reminds me of the "Great Depression" era which sadly looks like an option for our future without sound leadership and false pride & prejudices take over. LA nurses were told to reuse masks. The 3M's 8210 & 8511 N95 masks are uncomfortable at work so I'm sewing my own like other nurses are told to do. Sewing alleviates self-isolate too! – WinEunuuchs2Unix Mar 28 '20 at 21:17

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