Ingenuity and leadership

Ohio governor presses for system to clean N95 masks

Among the many urgent concerns as Ohio braces for the coming surge in coronavirus cases none is more paramount than the terrifying lack of protective masks and other equipment health care workers need to safely treat highly infectious patients.

That’s why Gov. Mike DeWine did several unusual things Sunday morning. First, the typically unflappable governor got angry about the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s delay in approving a mask-decontamination device invented by an Ohio company that can clean 80,000 masks per day so they can be reused.

Second, he called President Donald Trump to get help.

“I said we need to get this done today,” the governor said.

And get it done Mr. DeWine’s call did. By late Sunday night the FDA had granted expanded approval to allow full use of Battelle’s decontamination system in Ohio and elsewhere.

In recent weeks Battelle, a Columbus-based private research and development company, has designed a critical-care decontamination system that uses a pressurized hydrogen peroxide treatment in a converted shipping container to treat used N95 masks and make them safe for reuse up to 20 times.

This will help address the shortage of masks in Ohio and elsewhere. Ohio already has received its share of protective gear from the nation’s emergency stockpile and also ordered an end to elective surgeries and veterinary and dental procedures to help conserve equipment for a near-certain surge in coronavirus cases.

Still, the governor says, Ohio will not have enough. And neither will any other state.

Health care workers are already wearing the protective N95 masks repeatedly, without decontamination, which is concerning.

Battelle had decontamination units ready to go in Columbus for use by Ohio’s hospitals. It also had sent a unit to Long Island, N.Y., and had units ready to ship to New York City and Seattle.

After repeated requests from Ohio officials, the FDA agreed early Sunday morning to allow only limited use of the machines, enough to clean 10,000 masks a day. That’s a fraction compared to both what Battelle can produce and what health care workers need. That’s why Mr. DeWine says he got angry.

“Lives are literally at stake,” the governor said. “That’s why I called the president. And I don’t call the president very often.”

That call — that leadership — shook loose the regulator snag holding up the use of new technology that undoubtedly will save lives.

The governor also repeated Sunday what he has called a pair of long-term lessons from which the country must learn when the coronavirus crisis is finally over. We have not invested enough in public health, and we must become a country capable of manufacturing the critical medical supplies we need right here in the United States.

Mr. DeWine is right on both counts. But before we can take on those issues, we need to weather the urgent crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. And to do that, we need enough personal protective equipment for health care workers.

That’s why Sunday’s news — that Battelle expected to take orders Monday and begin sending out masks Tuesday — was so good. The company’s ingenuity and Mr. DeWine’s determination that it be used won out.

Mr. DeWine has emerged as a true national leader in this crisis. His proactive attitude, his pragmatism and his respect for science and know-how are both inspiring and calming. He has shown us what real leadership looks like in a national crisis.

We also should take seriously his comments on the importance of drawing long-term lessons from the pandemic. For example, he said, the federal government has not paid enough attention to public health. We have not invested enough in public health or built the infrastructure of a true public health system.