Wisconsin receives 230,000 N95 respirator masks

Wisconsin has received 230,000 N95 respirator masks from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Gov. Tony Evers said Thursday. The federal agency is also giving the state technology to help decontaminate the masks.

The delivery of masks follows a request the state made to FEMA last month for help buying personal protective equipment. They’ll head to county and tribal emergency managers, who’ll allocate them to local providers and first responders.

FEMA informed the state that it plans to deploy technology through a contract with nonprofit research firm Battelle that can help decontaminate tens of thousands of masks on a daily basis.

Medical personnel will be able to send their masks to Madison for processing. The masks can be decontaminated up to 20 times.

FEMA expects the Battelle decontamination system to arrive in Wisconsin in the early part of May, with the system up and running later in the month. They’re asking healthcare workers and first responders to begin saving their used masks for possible future decontamination.

UV decontamination sites are already in place in much of the state to service N95 masks and other types of equipment.

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