The properties of hot household hygroscopic materials and their potential use for non-medical facemask decontamination

The wide use of facemasks through the population to prevent SARS-CoV-2 virus transmission, and its resulting mis- or even non-decontamination are challenging the management of the epidemic at a large scale. As a complement to machine-wash that wastes significant amount of water and energy, hot hygroscopic materials could be used to decontaminate non-medical facemasks in household settings. We report the inactivation of a viral load on a facial mask for an exposure of 15 minutes, with the combined effect of heat and humidity under a decaying pattern suggesting straight-forward general public deployment towards a reliable implementation by the population.