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Background In the context of the ongoing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, the supply of personal protective equipment remains under severe strain. To address this issue, re-use of surgical face masks and filtering facepiece respirators has been recommended; prior decontamination is paramount to their re-use. Aim We aim to provide information on the effects of three decontamination procedures on porcine respiratory coronavirus (PRCV)-contaminated masks and respirators, presenting a stable model for infectious coronavirus decontamination of these typically single-use-only products. Methods Surgical masks and filtering facepiece respirator coupons and straps were inoculated with infectious PRCV and submitted to three decontamination treatments, ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, vaporized H 2 O 2 , and dry heat treatment. Viruses were recovered from sample materials and viral titres were measured in swine testicle cells. Findings UV irradiation, vaporized H 2 O 2 and dry heat reduced infectious PRCV by more than three orders of magnitude on mask and respirator coupons and rendered it undetectable in all decontamination assays. Conclusion This is the first description of stable disinfection of face masks and filtering facepiece respirators contaminated with an infectious SARS-CoV-2 surrogate using UV irradiation, vaporized H 2 O 2 and dry heat treatment. The three methods permit demonstration of a loss of infectivity by more than three orders of magnitude of an infectious coronavirus in line with the United States Food and Drug Administration policy regarding face masks and respirators. It presents advantages of uncomplicated manipulation and utilization in a BSL2 facility, therefore being easily adaptable to other respirator and mask types.

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Clothing is considered one of the most important tools for sun protection. Contrary to popular opinion, however, some summer fabrics provide insufficient ultraviolet (UV) protection. The European Committee for Standardization (CEN), has developed a new standard on requirements for test methods and labelling of sun-protective garments. This document has now been completed and is published. Within CEN, a working group, CEN/TC 248 WG14 'UV protective clothing', was set up with the mission to produce standards on the UV-protective properties of textile materials. This working group started its activities in 1998 and included 30 experts (dermatologists, physicists, textile technologists, fabric manufacturers and retailers of apparel textiles) from 11 European member states. Within this working group, all medical, ethical, technical and economical aspects of standardization of UV-protective clothing were discussed on the basis of the expertise of each member and in consideration of the relevant literature in this field. Decisions were made in consensus. The first part of the standard (EN 13758-1) deals with all details of test methods (e.g. spectrophotometric measurements) for textile materials and part 2 (EN 13758-2) covers classification and marking of apparel textiles. UV-protective cloths for which compliance with this standard is claimed must fulfill all stringent instructions of testing, classification and marking, including a UV protection factor (UPF) larger than 40 (UPF 40+), average UVA transmission lower than 5%, and design requirements as specified in part 2 of the standard. A pictogram, which is marked with the number of the standard EN 13758-2 and the UPF of 40+, shall be attached to the garment if it is in compliance with the standard. The dermatology community should take cognizance of this new standard document. Garment manufacturers and retailers may now follow these official guidelines for testing and labelling of UV-protective summer clothes, and the sun-aware consumer can easily recognize garments that definitely provide sufficient UV protection.

Objective: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) underscoring the urgent need for simple, efficient, and inexpensive methods to decontaminate SARS-CoV-2-exposed masks and respirators. We hypothesized that methylene blue (MB) photochemical treatment, which has various clinical applications, could decontaminate PPE contaminated with coronavirus. Design: The two arms of the study included: 1) PPE inoculation with coronaviruses followed by MB with light (MBL) decontamination treatment, and 2) PPE treatment with MBL for 5 cycles of decontamination (5CD) to determine maintenance of PPE performance. Methods: MBL treatment was used to inactivate coronaviruses on three N95 filtering facepiece respirator (FFR) and two medical mask (MM) models. We inoculated FFR and MM materials with three coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, and treated with 10 µM MB and exposed to 50,000 lux of white light or 12,500 lux of red light for 30 minutes. In parallel, integrity was assessed after 5CD using multiple US and international test methods and compared to the FDA-authorized vaporized hydrogen peroxide plus ozone (VHP+O3) decontamination method. Results: Overall, MBL robustly and consistently inactivated all three coronaviruses with 99.8 - to >99.9% virus inactivation across all FFRs and MMs tested. FFR and MM integrity was maintained after 5 cycles of MBL treatment, whereas one FFR model failed after 5 cycles of VHP+O3. Conclusions: MBL treatment decontaminated respirators and masks by inactivating three tested coronaviruses without compromising integrity through 5CD. MBL decontamination is effective, low-cost and does not require specialized equipment, making it applicable in all-resource settings.