COLUMBUS — Gov. Mike DeWine wants to get respiratory masks used by first responders, hospital workers and others in the medical fields sterilized as quickly as possible and has contacted President Donald Trump for his help in getting the process started today.

Late Sunday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a Columbus manufacturer to sterilize up to 160,000 masks per day, according to reports from various sources.

The state now has 1,653 confirmed coronavirus cases — an increase of 247 — with 29 deaths, 403 patients hospitalized and 139 in intensive care units, according to numbers from the governor’s daily news conference Sunday.

In Ohio, 66 counties have reported cases ranging in ages from 1 to 98. Those numbers include 84 cases in Mahoning County, 39 cases in Trumbull and 11 cases in Columbiana. Mahoning has two deaths, Trumbull, two, and Columbiana, one.

DeWine said a huge problem involves not having enough N95 facemasks as an expected surge in the number of cases nears.

“These masks are very, very important for those in the medical field, first responders, nursing homes, people at hospitals and others in the frontline working to save and protect lives,” the governor said. “We do not have enough of the masks which are needed. This is a problem not only unique to Ohio but a problem across the country.”

He and Lt. Gov. John Husted have been in contact with Battelle officials in Columbus, who have indicated they will be able to disinfect and clean as many as 80,000 used masks per day.

“They have developed machines … two machines in Ohio are ready to go,” DeWine said.

Lewis VonThaer, president / CEO of Battelle, said machines already have been sent to Long Island, N.Y., New York City and Seattle. VonThaer said the company has the capability of quickly making more machines

DeWine said he and Husted lobbied the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about getting the approval process on the machines started today.

Dewine said he spoke to Trump to quicken the process.

“I told him of the gravity of the situation, not only in Ohio but other states. The disinfecting of the masks will help to save lives and protect those on the frontline. Lives are at stake. I am optimistic this will get started (today),” DeWine said.

Husted said he also had talked with the FDA.

“We have been pushing for this. I am determined this will happen today and will not let up until it is done. The masks are needed, and sterilizing and decontaminating more of them will help to create safe environment for people who are most vulnerable,” he said.

VonThaer said the company can start at disinfecting 10,000 masks and build up to 80,000 per day.

Battelle will coordinate with hospitals, which will collect the used masks and put them in large decontamination bags. Hospitals then will wrap the masks in plastic and wipe down the packaging with alcohol to ensure no outside contamination, VonThaer said.

“We plan to put more of these machines across the country. We can quickly build machines each week,” VonThaer said.

VonThaer said said the sterilization system uses a hydrogen peroxide system to clean used N95 facemasks. Hydrogen peroxide vapor cleans the masks for a period of several hours.

Technicians operating the sterilization machines will load masks into pressurized storage containers of a hydrogen peroxide solution for cleaning. The cleaning process takes a few hours, VonThaer said.

VonThaer said each mask can be cleaned and reused up to 20 times. He said the masks received today will be disinfected and sent back Tuesday to the hospitals and other locations.

“We will keep up with the demand. There will be 24-hour turnaround,” VonThaer said.

VonThaer said the integrity of the masks will be maintained and any that cannot be used due to damage when brought in will not be reused.

“These machines will not solve every problem we have, but they can certainly help. I’m cautiously optimistic,” DeWine said about getting FDA approval.

The governor noted that Trump in a tweet Sunday stated: “Hope the FDA can approve Mask Sterilization equipment ASAP. As per Governor @MikeDeWine, there is a company in Ohio, @Batelle, which has equipment that can sterilize masks quickly.”

Dr. Amy Acton, director of Ohio Department of Health, did not attend the press conference.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.