Photo courtesy of Lori Price Marietta Fire Chief C.W. Durham unloads used N-95 masks for a test run with the Memorial Health System of the new local decontamination unit.

Decontamination of N-95 masks and filters is now accessible to Mid-Ohio Valley first responders and medical providers.

“We got confirmation today that our tests were successful,” said Marietta Fire Chief C.W. Durham on Monday.

In partnership with the Memorial Health System, the last week and a half has been busy for the Marietta Fire Department as it retrofitted one of its shipping containers originally designed for firefighter smoke training.

“We were able to duplicate the information from the Batelle and Duke (University) studies and build out this sealed space with the equipment Memorial was able to obtain and a shipping container we had for training at Jackson Hill Park,” explained Durham.

That container has been moved, he said, and is now accessible to aid all local first responders in reusing masks and mask filters during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Yes, in a perfect world we would have an unlimited supply and be in full gear for everyone, but that’s not the case,” said Durham. “Now this will hopefully help stretch what our local departments have a little longer.”

Lori Price, emergency management coordinator for the Memorial Health System, explained that utilizing a federal grant, the BioQuell unit that vaporizes a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and other chemicals was obtained at no cost to local providers.

The unit is housed inside the shipping container, but may be removed to also sanitize an ambulance or law enforcement cruiser if needed.

“And right now the consumable supplies that we have were covered by (that same) federal grant administered through the Ohio Department of Health,” Price explained. “We’re opening the program at this time to first responders and health care providers… that way there’s no cost at all passed on to the users.”

Don Williams, EMS communications center supervisor and EMS liaison for Memorial, explained that the process of decontamination is somewhat weather-dependent, meaning while the health system intends to run a cycle at least once per week at this time those cycles will be run by appointment.

“The inside has to be between 59 degrees and 86 degrees and less than 80 percent humidity,” said Williams. “This week Thursday afternoon seems to be the best time we can do it… but in the hot days we’ll be starting early.”

The program will work through direct coordination with Williams, setting a specific drop-off appointment time for local departments to bring double-bagged masks inside containers.

And like in the more metropolitan locations where these units have been shipped, the masks will be tracked by Memorial for how many cycles each item can go through.

“And when they drop off their masks they will get a receipt and a time to pick up the clean masks,” said Price, noting the process takes between four and six hours to complete once begun.

Price said onc cycle costs $20 to run and Durham said the city is eating the cost of the electricity to run the cycles.

“So if we are able to load 200 masks in a cycle then the cost is 10 cents per cycle,” said Price.

She said the system is currently set up to run 600 masks at a time, but may be easily scaled to run 1,200 masks with additional shelving set up inside the containment area.

The system is open to all first responders and medical offices in Washington County but will also be regionally available outside of the county, said both Price and Durham.

State/regional COVID updates:

Gov. Mike DeWine also announced the following new orders Monday:

“We have known all along our nursing homes were going to be a risk,” said Dr. Amy Acton, director of the Ohio Department of Health. “We know these will be our hot spots and in the months to come these are areas that we have to keep close tabs on.”

The first new order requires nursing homes to notify residents and families of residents if a resident or staff member has a confirmed case of COVID-19.

“We will be telling you the names of these facilities,” said Acton. “Most nursing homes are doing an outstanding job… any one of us could be asymptomatically carrying this virus.”

Over the weekend, it was announced that 25 confirmed cases of COVID-19 within the Heartland of Marietta nursing facility in Devola included seven people with confirmed cases of the virus who were not presenting symptoms at the time of testing.

That case count is more than half of Washington County’s 41 confirmed cases as of Monday.

Acton cautioned against stigma and fear of outbreaks in nursing homes.

“This is not a blame game, how do we do better with what we have,” she said.

DeWine and Acton said Monday that all nursing facilities with confirmed cases will be published additionally by the state.

“This now is a requirement for all nursing homes in the state of Ohio,” said DeWine. “If you’re thinking about going to a nursing home you have every right to know the situation there.”

DeWine also announced that sales of liquor are to be restricted in certain Ohio counties bordering Pennsylvania.

“We’ve had repeated complaints from chiefs of police… with folks coming in from Pennsylvania to those counties,” said DeWine. “Those who are coming in to buy liquor are creating a health hazard.”

He explained that Pennsylvania liquor stores were closed on March 16.

“This has pushed people into Ohio counties,” said DeWine.

He said sales of liquor will be limited to Ohio residents with valid Ohio IDs and those with active military IDs.

Counties included in that restriction are:

– Ashtabula.

– Trumbull.

– Mahoning.

– Columbiana.

– Jefferson.

– Belmont.

Washington County was not included in DeWine’s limited list, though it may be added.

“If there are additional counties that appear to have a significant influx of people coming in from another state we may expand,” said the governor.

Janelle Patterson can be reached at jpatterson@mariettatimes.com.

By the numbers:

– Washington County’s confirmed cases of COVID-19 reached 41 Monday.

– Twenty-five of those cases are confirmed to be linked to Heartland of Marietta, a skilled nursing facility in Devola.

– Seven of the Heartland cases were asymptomatic at the time of testing.

Source: Times research.