The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the highest health authority in the United States, clarified this Friday that not all masks offer equal protection: in their publication that has just been updated, they ensure that common cloth masks are those that offer less prevent the spread of the virus, compared to N95 and KN95 masks.
"Wear the mask that
offers you the most protection possible
, that fits you well, and that you use consistently," the recommendations read.
"If used consistently and appropriately, N95s provide the highest level of protection from particles, including those that cause COVID-19."
Workers produce N95 masks in Paterson, New Jersey. BRENDAN MCDERMID / REUTERS
Previously, the agency had not recommended the use of these masks by the general population, for fear that such masks would be lacking in surgical and health care settings.
Now the CDC says the shortage is no longer a concern, as reported by NBC News, sister network of Noticias Telemundo.
Some experts believe that this guidance should have been given much earlier and that it does not go far enough.
"We need to go much further and say clearly what is the standard we are looking for," said Dr. Ranu Dhillon, a global health physician at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital.
"The CDC should have said this two years ago," he
explained.
"The science was clear two years ago."
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Tara Smith, a professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health at Kent State University in Ohio, says that while the CDC's guidance is welcome, she is concerned about how people who need quality masks, like N95s, will have access. to them.
"Is there a plan to distribute them, especially for those who can't afford them or can't find them easily? This is something I hoped would be done sooner," Smith wrote in an email to NBC News.
"Recommendations are great but without access, especially for those most at risk, it's not enough."