The shortage of PPE is getting worse, with hundreds of medical professionals and first responders paying the ultimate price. But if the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that people are resourceful. Scientists at a crime lab in Kansas, for example, deduced a method to use evidence drying cabinets to decontaminate N95 masks for multiple uses. Now, an engineering team from Michigan Tech University has Macgyvered a refrigerated shipping container, commercial-grade baking sheets and modified oven into a prototype mobile sanitation unit.
The team, which includes the family unit of Dan and Amy Barnard and cousin Andrew, is actively working with a team from the FDA to get approval for Emergency Use Authorization so they can make the design and licensing widely available to communities and healthcare facilities.
The design and technology behind the idea is simple, yet ingenious.