 Hello, everyone. I'm Sean Boyd for Cal OAS News. We're here at the N95 mask decontamination site in Southern California. It's the first one set up in the state to help alleviate the PPE shortage due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now making this critical operation possible is the phenomenal partnership between federal, state and local authorities. All right, good morning. Crews are putting the finishing touches on this full DECON facility. Synchronized teamwork stood up this site in only 24 hours. It's now ready to accept N95 masks from healthcare workers around California. They'll be shipped via UPS, postage paid by the state. Once they arrive, they're numbered and entered into a detailed database. Then the materials are taken and then we bring them to one of the decontamination units. Battelle senior research scientist Duncan Langua says there are four units called critical care decontamination systems. Staff here call them CCDS or autoclaves, though these units don't use heat to sterilize like an autoclave does. Vapress hydrogen peroxide, that hydrogen peroxide destroys microorganisms. So the boxes will be opened in here and given to technicians working inside the decontamination unit. When this is completely full, we seal it up and start the decontamination process. A hydrogen peroxide vapor is pumped into the units along with high volumes of air which go through a triple HEPA filtration system. What leaves is just oxygen and water. Two to four hours later, the masks are dry and sterile and ready to return to sender. The entire process receiving to shipping will be about eight hours. Those four autoclaves are online right now. Those are the four containers that you see with the silver exhaust pipes coming out of the top. Those autoclaves will be able to process, get this, up to 80,000 masks per day. That's 20,000 each. Now one important side note here. If there is any makeup that is lipstick, powder, anything like that, those masks, if they contain those traces will be thrown out. For more information about this process or any COVID-19 related topic, go to OESNews.com and search COVID-19. Reporting for Cal OES News, I'm Shawn Boyd.