WASHINGTON – A group of public health experts, including several who advised Joe Biden on Covid-19 during the presidential transition, is asking the government to enact stricter mask requirements to protect workers, as an increasing number of allies raise concerns about the new government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a letter sent to government public health officials on Tuesday, the group said that the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on masks do not go far enough and that all health professionals and those at high risk of infection should wear medical grade N95 masks or similar respirators instead of standard surgical masks or facial tissue covers.
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“Stronger protective measures are needed immediately to limit the exposure and transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to control and end the COVID-19 pandemic,” the group wrote. “Action is needed to better protect workers and the public from exposure to the virus by inhalation.”
Since taking office just under a month ago, the Biden government has stepped up federal involvement in combating the pandemic, issued new guidelines on the use of masks and strengthened its messages on the use of masks, including public service announcements. But while new infections have dropped in recent weeks, health experts have warned in their letter that as more transmissible variants of the virus spread, the United States may experience another explosion of new infections if stricter mask guidelines do not. are implemented.
Several of Biden’s allies have begun to raise public concerns about aspects of the government’s response to the pandemic. A bipartisan group of governors sent a letter on Monday saying that better coordination between the federal government and states is needed in the distribution of vaccine doses. Local teacher unions are also at odds with Biden’s urge to reopen schools, with some wanting all teachers to be vaccinated before returning to classrooms, which the CDC did not recommend in last week’s new guidelines.
The CDC recommends that N95 masks, which filter at least 95% of very small particles, be used only by healthcare professionals in direct contact with patients with Covid-19. In the most recent CDC guidelines on facial coverage, released last week, the agency said it “does not recommend the use of N95 respirators to protect against COVID-19 in non-health settings”.
Federal agencies said the general public should not wear these masks to ensure that there is a sufficient supply for health professionals and medical first responders.
This is in contrast to some European countries, which last month began to recommend not using only cloth covers on their faces. Germany now requires people to wear medical masks similar to KN95s or N95s in stores and on public transport. France said people should wear surgical masks in public instead of facial cloth covers. Biden’s former advisers urged the US to enact similar requirements.
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Among the Biden transition advisers who signed the letter are David Michaels, former administrator of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA; Dr. Celine Gounder, specialist in infectious diseases at NYU School of Medicine; Michael Osterholm, head of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota; and Richard Bright, former director of the Advanced Biomedical Research and Development Authority, who filed a complaint against the Trump administration.
“The CDC and OSHA should recommend and require the use of respiratory protection,” said the letter, adding that masks like N95s should be used “to protect all workers at high risk of exposure and infection.”
Although supplies shortages have been a problem in the past, the group cited media reports saying that millions of N95 masks are in warehouses with employers reluctant to buy them because they do not believe they are necessary. The group also called on the Biden government to use the Defense Production Act, as it does with vaccine supplies, to increase production of N95s, reusable plastic respirators and other medical-grade facial coverings.
“Existing respirator supplies need to be made available and used now, without permission to stay in warehouses and supply rooms,” the group wrote.
