A Nassau company is on the forefront of producing UV sanitizing lights to clean N95 masks in hospitals and at home.

With supplies of the much-needed masks dwindling, hospitals are looking for ways to disinfect when health care workers are forced to reuse them.

The UVGI Sanitizing Chamber is one disinfecting method many medical centers are turning to. The chamber is produced by Spectronics in Westbury and uses ultraviolet germicidal radiation.

Spectronics owner Jon Cooper says UVC light has been used for decades for this purpose.

"Short-wave UV or germicidal light is used to disrupt the DNA of microorganisms, such as germs, viruses and bacteria and it renders them unable to reproduce -- in effect, destroying them," says Cooper.

UV light tools aren't just for hospitals. Because of the spread of COVID-19, everyone is taking extra precautions by disinfecting frequently touched surfaces.

At Spectronics, workers are also assembling UV sanitizers to disinfect cellphones.

"The typical cellphone, even before coronavirus has more germs than a typical toilet seat," says Cooper.

Cooper says another sanitizing device eliminates up to 99.9% of germs, viruses and bacteria on mobile devices, as well as infecting toilet seats, keyboards, faucets and other surfaces.

Shortly after the pandemic struck, state officials contacted Cooper about the need for sanitizers. So he retrofitted a section of his plant to switch from production of fluorescent dyes to hand sanitizers.