We have seen paper bags be utilized in many unique ways during our 69 years in business, but we never imagined they would be an aid in helping to fight a worldwide pandemic. Needless to say, we were surprised to discover that paper bags are being used as part of a decontamination protocol for N95 filtering facepiece respirators for front-line healthcare staff. As you have probably heard personal protective equipment (PPE), has been in high demand and in some cases, short supply, during the fight against Covid-19.
The unique stressors of the Covid-19 crisis have pushed businesses and medical facilities to find new, innovative ways to treat this disease and keep patients and staff safe. As supply chain experts and project managers reached out in search of sources, we learned of a new process that uses white and kraft paper bags to sort contaminated from decontaminated N95 respirators.
Each respirator is marked with a healthcare worker’s name, unit, and date of first use. Once the mask has been used, it is placed in an individual natural kraft paper bag marked with a name and return location. After using the mask, the employee inspects the respirator for wear and if acceptable, places it in the brown paper bag for dirty respirators. At the end of each shift, the brown bags with used masks are collected for decontamination through ultraviolet germicidal irradiation.
At the beginning of the next shift, the employee collects a white bag with their individual, decontaminated masks and a fresh brown bag marked with name and return location. Decontaminated respirators are to be used on an “oldest first” basis. Employees reuse decontaminated respirators until they fail to pass a visual inspection or fit is compromised. Once all respirators are deemed unusable, new respirators are needed.
We are delighted and proud that the humble paper bag can be one small part of the fight against this virus. For a full report on the decontamination process from Nebraska Medicine, please see our source list.