Within the Department of Homeland Security’s research and development arm, the age-old mission to secure and protect Americans has grown amid the coronavirus to include doing the most good and doing it for the world’s good.
The Science and Technology Directorate arm, or S&T, of DHS is not like its other agencies, which focus on immigration, border operations, or cybersecurity. Its five labs, scattered across the United States, as well as contract private sector partners, study chemical, explosives, radiological, and food supply issues that could affect the department’s quarter of a million employees, in addition to 800,000 local, state, tribal, and territorial law enforcement officers.
It was January when staff at one of the labs, the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center at Maryland’s Fort Detrick, were told to put their normal assignments away and focus solely on the coronavirus that was pelting China. While the private sector was shifting resources to come up with a vaccine, S&T pivoted to researching other aspects of the virus, as it did during the anthrax threat in the early 2000s and Ebola outbreak in 2014.
“We’re not doing research for the sake of answering questions. We’re interested in doing science because there is application — there is a need,” said general biological scientist Dr. Lloyd Hough, the lead for S&T’s Hazard Awareness & Characterization Technology Center and head of Probabilistic Analysis for National Threats Hazards and Risks.
Hough told the Washington Examiner that his team started by creating an internal document that listed the 15 biggest questions about the virus, as well as known answers to some of those questions. They picked three questions that had not been answered by the scientific and medical community and chose to study these specific issues because of their relevance to the DHS workforce and potential to help billions of people worldwide who have been affected by the pandemic. The government’s top scientists began looking at how temperature and humidity affect the virus’s ability to remain in the air and on surfaces and at ways to get rid of it.
“The research that they’re doing is really applicable to not just the folks within DHS, not just the law enforcement officials, or the policymakers — this is really something that everyday Americans can benefit from,” said Anne Cutler, a spokeswoman for S&T.
The air and surface studies both commenced in February. Scientists inserted coronavirus particles into synthetic saliva and phlegm, then placed it onto surfaces or blasted it into the air, similar to how a person would cough. They learned humid, hot environments made it harder for the virus to multiply and that such a setting helped kill it. John Verrico, a spokesman for S&T, said findings like those had big benefits for all people, not just federal workers.
“If sunlight kills the virus in a matter of minutes, you might want to grab a shopping cart outside rather than one that’s in the store,” said Verrico.
With a better understanding of what settings the virus could not thrive in, Hough instructed his team to focus on decontamination, due to the national shortage of masks, as well as the complicated and expensive means by which they must be sterilized. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the use of germicidal lights and vaporous hydrogen peroxide for cleaning N95 masks, which Hough said are not easy for most people to purchase or use.
Knowing that moist heat made it hard for the virus to survive, the scientists looked at easier ways to use heat and steam against it. The solution, scientists found, was the multicooker, a kitchen appliance that, in recent years, has become the in-gadget for cooking food.
“It’s an easy to access device. They’re not very expensive, and we were looking for something like that,” said Hough.
The multicooker should be set at 149 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the hottest moist heat N95 masks can be in without melting. The mask is put in a brown paper bag, placed in a half-inch of water, and put into the multicooker for 30 minutes for sterilization.
“We can use this in small offices. It doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to DHS, but individuals who have access to and are wearing N95 masks,” Hough said. “It could be first responders, it could be a paramedic unit, it could be a Border Patrol station where they could have access to buy a multicooker, to buy the brown paper bags, and be able to decontaminate these masks.”
The air, surface, and multicooker findings were published in scientific journals and have been viewed widely since the findings were released in May and June, Cutler said.
Hough’s team will continue studying these specific issues, especially as U.S. cases tick up, hoping to give not just Americans, but the world, practical solutions to defeating an invisible enemy.
