FDA says HCP can transition away from reusing disposable respirators
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The FDA recommended that facilities begin to move away from “crisis capacity conservation measures” implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as reusing decontaminated respirators.
“Based on the increased domestic supply of new respirators approved by the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) currently available to facilitate this transition, the FDA and CDC believe there is adequate supply of respirators to transition away from use of decontamination and bioburden reduction systems,” the FDA stated in a letter issued to health care personnel and facilities.
In the letter, the FDA recommended limiting the decontamination and bioburden reduction of disposable respirators, adding that respirators that have undergone these processes should only be used if there are inadequate supplies of new, unused filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs).
Facilities and workers should transition away from crisis capacity strategies like using decontaminated N95s and other FFRs, the FDA said, noting that they should increase their inventory of available NIOSH-approved respirators.
The FDA recommended that even if health care workers and institutions cannot obtain their preferred respirators, they should use a new, unused respirator before using a preferred option that underwent decontamination or bioburden reduction.
According to the letter, the FDA is not revoking the emergency use authorizations issued for decontamination and bioburden reduction processes “at this time.”
The organization noted that “while there is an increase in domestic supply of respirators for health care personnel, the FDA will continue to monitor supply and demand to assess respirator availability as facilities systematically transition away from the most extreme measures of respirator conservation (that is, crisis capacity strategies) to contingency and eventually conventional use.”
Respirators will remain on a device shortage list maintained by the FDA, according to the letter.