5/19/2023 0 Comments Cdc mask guidance updateWhite House COVID Coordinator Jeff Zients said Wednesday the White House was seriously considering making "high quality masks" available to all Americans, although he did not provide additional details. There are already 737 million N95 masks in the strategic national stockpile available for medical workers. Dawn O’Connell, a top official at the Health and Human Services Department, said Tuesday that the government planned to sign a contract within the next month or so that would identify a provider to produce 140 million N95 masks a month. To address the issue of limited supply, the Biden administration says it’s planning to help ramp up production of N95s to make them more available to Americans who want one. According to a spokesperson, she wore a disposable mask with a cloth mask on top "to ensure a tight seal." That would be in keeping with CDC's current guidance that suggests Americans could opt for two masks for increased protection. Walensky did not wear an N95 mask while testifying on Capitol Hill Tuesday. MORE: Nursing homes struggle with low booster rates, staffing issues as omicron spreads While vaccinated people are considered infectious for a shorter period of time than someone who is unvaccinated, and they are considerably less likely to end up hospitalized, the CDC urged everyone to return to masking indoors to prevent community cases from rising. The move by the CDC would be the first significant update to its mask guidance since last July when it urged all Americans to return to wearing masks, after the delta variant proved so transmissible that research found even vaccinated people could transmit the virus. In a statement provided to ABC News on Wednesday, the agency said the goal is for Americans to have "the best and most updated information to choose what mask is right for them." After weeks of health experts urging Americans to upgrade their masks to protect against the omicron COVID-19 variant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that it was planning to update its mask guidance to "best reflect the multiple options available to people and the different levels of protection they provide." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased mask recommendations for the vast majority of the country Friday under a new framework to monitor the coronavirus that immediately affects.
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