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CDC reportedly set to recommend KN95 masks
Health experts that FOX 5 spoke with say wearing paper or cloth masks was a baseline barrier to protect others from infection and the omicron particles have been a game-changer. That's why the CDC is reportedly about to recommend people switch to medical-grade KN95 masks.
As omicron continues to fuel COVID-19 spikes across the country and the DMV, the CDC appears close to announcing a major change in its face mask recommendations.
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Health experts that FOX 5 spoke with say wearing paper or cloth masks was a baseline barrier to protect others from infection and the omicron particles have been a game-changer.
That's why the CDC is reportedly about to recommend people switch to medical-grade KN95 masks.
Omicron is able to pass easily through most cloth or paper masks, but Dr. Monica Ghandi of the University of California San Francisco says the thick layer of plastic in a KN95 mask not only blocks the virus but repels it.
"The change in recommendation is really valid right now to say use ‘fit and filtered’ now to remind us," Dr. Ghandi says. "CDC gave us the information back in February [on] which masks worked best, but they didn’t push them. They’re starting to push them today because omicron is so much more transmissible."
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The problem is that it's not easy to find these masks on store shelves.
The White House's COVID-19 response team was grilled by senators on Capitol Hill Tuesday about why, after trillions of dollars have been spent to increase supplies of personal protective equipment, are people still having to search for KN95 masks.
"President Biden has now personally urged Americans to upgrade the quality of the masks they wear. I want to know when the American people will be able to buy an American-made N95 mask they know will protect them," said Sen. Tammy Baldwin.
"We are very invested in N95 masks being made available and will continue to look, and we appreciate the support in getting us the American Rescue Plan dollars that we’re investing and will continue to invest and look at the right ways to invest that," said Assistant Secretary Dawn O'Connell of the Health and Human Services Department.
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If you can't find a KN95 mask, Dr. Ghandi says double up on masks by wearing a cloth mask firmly over your face and placing a paper mask over that on the outside.
UC San Francisco issued a paper on this mask-wearing method and found a massive increase in omicron protection.