Scientists pressure Biden’s administration to demand N95 masks in high-risk workplaces

More than a dozen leading scientists are pressing the Biden government to demand N95 air filter masks for employees in risky workplaces like refrigerators and prisons.

The 13 scientists, including several who advised President Joe Biden on the pandemic during the transition, asked the government to recognize that the virus is more airborne than previously thought, especially with the emergence of more contagious variants. Highly effective masks filter out about 95% of all small particles.

The group, which includes David Michaels, an epidemiologist at George Washington University who led the Occupational Health and Safety Administration under Obama, also asked OSHA to issue new standards that require improved ventilation in high-risk workplaces.

“The CDC’s guidelines and recommendations do not include the necessary control measures to protect the public and workers from SARS-CoV-2 inhalation exposure,” wrote the authors in a letter sent to Covid’s response coordinator on Monday. -19 from the White House, Jeff Zients. The letter was also sent to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical advisor.

“Failure to address inhalation exposure to SARS-CoV-2 continues to put workers and the public at serious risk of infection,” continued the authors. “People of color, many of whom work on the front lines in essential jobs, have suffered – and continue to suffer – the greatest impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Federal and international health agencies, including the World Health Organization, have been slow to recognize the evidence showing that the coronavirus can spread effectively through the air. It was only in the summer that WHO recognized that airborne spread could not be ruled out, only after more than 200 scientists called on the agency to do so.

The CDC, for its part, seemed in recent weeks to recognize the importance of preventive measures aimed at airborne propagation, as masks more adjusted to the public. On Friday, the CDC issued guidelines on reopening new schools, but only emphasized the importance of ventilation, saying schools should open windows and doors when possible. Some doctors said they should have emphasized the importance of portable air filters or improved HVAC systems in schools.

In their letter sent on Monday, the group of scientists described the evidence of the virus spreading through the air and pointed to other countries such as Germany and France, which demanded higher quality masks for workers and recommended improved internal ventilation. They said the current guidance from CDC and other agencies is “out of date” and needs to be updated urgently due to the threat of new, more infectious variants.

CDC representatives did not immediately return CNBC’s request for comment.

The scientists said the CDC and OSHA should mandate the use of N95 masks in hazardous workplaces. Currently, they said, the CDC recommends less effective surgical masks for most healthcare professionals due to the lack of N95 masks. But the scientists said there was now an increase in the supply of N95 masks and it was time for the CDC and OSHA to determine their use in risky environments where workers could be exposed to coronavirus aerosols.

On his first full day in office, Biden instructed OSHA to issue emergency standards for Covid-19, which would include ventilation and mask rules, by March 15.

“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 scientists wrote to the administration. “Action is needed to better protect workers and the public from exposure to the virus by inhalation.”