The administration has so far resisted recommending that everyone shift to wearing the N95s or KN95s typically worn by health care workers, even with Covid-19 cases hitting new highs.
Murthy and others in favor of distributing masks to the public have pushed for a decision as soon as Thursday, when Biden is slated to deliver an address on the state of the pandemic response.
Among the details under debate are how exactly the government would make the masks available, as well as how to ensure that stockpiling supplies to give out to the public does not create mask shortages for hospitals and other health providers. Public health experts say the cost of more effective masks is also a barrier to use by low-income Americans.
A senior administration official argued an effort to send N95 or KN95 masks to Americans would make little difference because "half the country won't wear any mask." Despite the wider availability, health experts still argue the government should be making the process smoother, especially as the nation enters its third year of the pandemic with the virus raging uncontrolled. It is still too difficult to find masks for reasonable prices, those critics say, and even tougher to figure out whether they are legitimate or counterfeit — persistent problems that they argue the administration has yet to prioritize fixing.
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