WASHINGTON – The Biden White House is considering sending masks directly to American families, according to three people familiar with the discussions, an action that the Trump administration has explored but ruled out.
The Covid-19 response team is evaluating the logistics of sending millions of facial covers, but no decision has been made, and the proposal has not yet reached President Joe Biden for final approval, said a White House official.
The idea was raised at several meetings between Biden’s leading health experts in the past few days, especially as Biden continues to urge Americans to wear masks as a primary defense against the spread of the coronavirus.
Biden asked all Americans to wear masks for the first 100 days of his term and he signed several executive actions that determine the use of facial coverings on federal properties and on public transport, decisions that President Donald Trump never enacted.
It is not clear when the masks would be released to the public, how many would be included per residence and whether they would be disposable or made of fabric. It is also unclear what the cost could be.
“There are a number of options on the table to help protect more Americans from the coronavirus and encourage people to mask themselves, but no decision has been made,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
A decision memo has not yet gone through the political process, said a White House official.
NBC News reported that the Trump White House ruled out a plan last year to deliver cloth masks to all U.S. families, opting to send them to nonprofits and state agencies, according to an internal email of a senior government official at the time.
The Department of Health and Human Services signed $ 640 million in contracts in May with a group of textile manufacturers to make masks under the América Forte Project, according to federal purchasing records. The biggest contract was for Hanes, which made 450 million masks in May and July.
Since April, public health experts have encouraged elected leaders to promote wearing masks. Trump was reluctant to do that, almost never showing one in public. He defiantly removed a surgical mask when he returned to the White House from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he was hospitalized in October after his own Covid-19 diagnosis.
In contrast, Biden always wore masks, sometimes even folding them during the campaign. He also decided to use them inside the Oval Office and other spaces in the White House when it is not possible to distance himself socially.
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Masks are a common and mandatory sight in the West Wing, another starting point of the Trump administration. Psaki usually wears an N-95 mask on his way to the pulpit for daily instructions and promptly puts it back on as soon as she finishes the press conference.
Although vaccine distribution continues to increase, face coverings are probably here to stay. The best doctors predict that Americans will need to use them until the US achieves collective immunity and possibly for longer.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Wednesday that the Biden government is even evaluating whether people should wear a double mask. He indicated that he will wait for science to guide his recommendations, but said the secret is to use at least one.
“If you are talking about a physical barrier and as the CDC recommends, you want at least two layers inside the mask as a physical barrier, and you feel that maybe more like a physical barrier would be better, there is nothing wrong with people using it two masks, “said Fauci. “I often wear two masks.”
