Thread by @AbraarKaran

As time goes on it’s starting to feel like the hesitancy around getting #bettermasks out to high risk or highly exposed people is less that this isn’t a good idea or isn’t needed- operationalization of this may be beyond capacity of what feds can/will do right now #covid19

2/ But- as with any interventions- if you believe in it, you must keep pushing for it. We believed #bettermasks were needed last year; we believe they will be needed for a long time to come. As @sri_srikrishna put it, they should be as common as fire extinguishers in your home.

3/ And I’ve seen some arguing about whether you may just use surgical masks & why N95 masks are needed. We actually don’t disagree with this IF you have a surgical mask that has been quality approved (@larmbrust has been tweeting about this) AND is fitted like w/ @FixTheMask

4/ Alternative would be a KN95, KF94, FFP2 and all would benefit from a fit adjustment/brace. Other option is an elastomeric N95- available off the shelf, reusable, but admittedly can look somewhat silly (but they work). #covid19

5/ Would we also benefit from getting more people who wear no masks to wear any kind of mask? Yes- absolutely. A very different, maybe even tougher challenge.

Does that mean that getting #bettermasks is not an important goal? No.

6/ This is why in our recent @CNN op-ed we ended it asking for this- if this is an issue of supply or operationalizing a smarter masks plan, then just say that.

But don’t deny that #BetterMasks would help especially those who are high risk/high exposure