1/ Just heard @CDCDirector on @CNN @drsanjaygupta push back on the proposal @AbraarKaran @sri_srikrishna & I put forward on the gov't sending N95-caliber masks to every home ( https://www.cnn.com/videos/health/2021/01/28/mask-guidance-n95-fauci-walensky-cnn-coronavirus-town-hall-sot-vpx.cnn)

A quick rebuttal

THREAD

2/ Dr. Walensky's counterpoints to this idea seem to be:

- N95-caliber masks aren't necessary; multi-layer cloth + 6 feet is good enough

- access to masks is not a bottleneck

- N95-caliber masks are hard to wear for long periods

3/ For the 1st point, we know that Covid can spread via aerosols indoors & in crowds

Cloth masks only variably block (~50-70%) & surgical masks up to 80%

People -especially essential workers, those at high-risk- need better protection particularly in poorly ventilated scenarios

4/ For 2nd point, @CDCDirector seemed to think @andersoncooper was asking about masks in general & not specifically high-caliber masks

Access to *high-caliber* masks is a challenge & people don't know which ones & where to get them & some may not be able to afford them

5/ For 3rd point, I agree that N95s are hard to breathe in for long periods

But most people though would only need to wear for shorter periods (eg, grocery store) & there are more comfortable options such as KF94s, elastomerics & others close to NIOSH approval (eg, @one_canopy)

6/ This is why a number of other countries are moving to also promote or mandate such masks for their populations https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/europe-coronavirus-masks-regulations/2021/01/20/23463c08-5a74-11eb-a849-6f9423a75ffd_story.html

7/ We need to do everything we can stop transmission to save lives now, prevent the emergence & spread of faster-spreading deadlier variants & time to get vaccination up to scale

If supply is the reason we're hesitating on doing this, then let's solve it (ie, invoke DPA)

@j_g_allen @zeynep @K_G_Andersen @EricTopol @DrEricDing @ScottGottliebMD @BhadeliaMD

@ezraklein @vivek_murthy @celinegounder