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To: Fury; mrsmith

What does hanging or laying the mask in the sun do as far as disinfecting it?


531 posted on 04/10/2020 6:15:23 AM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..)
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To: metmom

Based on the research, and referring to the Supplementary appendix at:

https://www.thelancet.com/cms/10.1016/S2666-5247(20)30003-3/attachment/34ed069e-7268-42ae-8627-df3aa869d81b/mmc1.pdf

their testing showed undetectable levels of virus titre when the virus was exposed to 37C for 24 hours. Please note that the temperature testing was done using a virus transport medium and not a mask.

There was still virus titre present on a mask outer layer after 7 days.


534 posted on 04/10/2020 6:34:30 AM PDT by Fury
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To: metmom

It appears that many ovens will run @ 150 deg. F (warm, defrost, etc.) and 20 minutes of that should zap any virus.

HOWEVER, if the oven elements run hot (esp. glowing hot), direct radiation might get the mask hot enough to damage it even though the air temperature in the oven is only 150 deg. (This is like asphalt under one’s feet on an 85 deg. sunny day.) A mask has low mass / thermal inertia, so it would heat up quickly. A convection setting (if available) should help.

This said, I used a temperature gun on a N95 mask in our big toaster oven set on “Defrost” and the mask did not seem to be getting over 155 deg. Granted that the mask being low thermal mass would start cooling the second cooler air comes in the oven door.

OTOH, looking at the Lancet table, it appears to me one could warm the oven to 150-160 deg F, turn it off, quickly pop in the mask (masks in a larger oven) & close up, and let it all coast for 30 minutes. If paranoid, pull the mask out and repeat.

https://www.thelancet.com/cms/10.1016/S2666-5247(20)30003-3/attachment/34ed069e-7268-42ae-8627-df3aa869d81b/mmc1.pdf

Disclaimer: I’m not an expert and have no way to test the above for virus “baking” reduction or mask performance later, besides looking for obvious mask damage.


556 posted on 04/10/2020 7:49:10 AM PDT by Paul R. (The Lib / Socialist goal: Total control of nothing left wort h controlling.)
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