The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering recommending that people upgrade to the more protective N95 or KN95 masks to protect against the omicron variant of COVID-19, according to The Washington Post.
Experts have been pushing the Biden administration to recommend people wear higher-quality masks instead of cloth masks with the rise of cases due to omicron.
An official close with the CDC's discussion who was not authorized to speak publicly told The Washington Post about the benefits of upgrading your mask.
“The agency is currently actively looking to update its recommendations for KN95 and N95 in light of omicron,” the official said. “We know these masks provide better filtration.”
There were initial concerns at the beginning of the pandemic that if the CDC recommended N95 masks or similar protective types that there wouldn't be enough for health workers, but now there are no concerns over shortages.
"The CDC guidance is expected to say that if people can 'tolerate wearing a KN95 or N95 mask all day, you should,'" per The Washington Post.
They are also expected to say that that the best mask is one worn consistently and correctly. The current guidance continues to say that N95 masks should be prioritized for health-care workers.
Michael Osterholm, Director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, has argued for everyone to wear N95 masks and said that there's no reason to keep saving them for health-care workers.
"That note of trying to save N95s for health-care workers is just grossly out of date," Osterholm said.
Julia Raifman, an assistant professor at Boston University School of Public Health, said that high-quality masks are important to help prevent the spread of omicron. She also added that countries like South Korea and Japan have done more to make masks available to people.
"Omicron is very transmissible through shared air," Raifman said. "Mask policies that ensure people with COVID and people around them are wearing high-quality masks do the most to reduce COVID spread."
Congressional staff at the US Capitol were told last week that KN95 masks would be provided to House staff, after previously being given surgical masks.
The health department in Milwaukee, WI began giving out a half-million free N95 masks at vaccination sites and public libraries over the weekend. While Connecticut announced that they will distribute 6 million free N95 masks and 3 million COVID-19 at-home rapid tests.
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