Thread by @AbraarKaran

CDC has added a new line about use of N95 masks for the general public now that “availability…has increased”

We should have used the Defense Production Act last year to overcome the supply issue

But more importantly- we must ensure we aren’t caught w our pants down next time

2/ In May 2020 we wrote our first piece about how we can get out of this epidemic— a key part of it was ensuring the general public had access to #bettermasks

This was well before vaccines. This was when the debate was focused on ‘virus vs economy’

hbr.org/2020/05/a-plan…

3/ As the epidemic pushed on, @RanuDhillon & I both continued seeing patients and we almost exclusively utilized N95 masks for most of last year

But hospitals are often much safer than community settings

Better ventilation & everyone was being tested on admission

4/ Thus began our push for #BetterMasks for the general public — an idea that has been pushed by all of us but especially efforts by @sri_srikrishna who has been compiling & testing masks throughout the year

hbr.org/2020/06/we-nee…

5/ One of those— elastomeric respirators— showed exceptional promise with reusable design for protecting essential workers.

We pushed for these. We knew it was needed because these were our patients— the very people who couldn’t WFH / “stay home”

hbr.org/2020/10/essent…

6/ Later in the year, @drsanjaygupta brought our idea to the national stage, even pressing @CDCDirector & Tony Fauci on this during a widely viewed CNN townhall #BetterMasks

cnn.com/2021/01/22/hea…

7/ When Biden won, we tried to push this on a national level as a Hifi mask initiative given vaccinations would take quite a while to reach everyone

statnews.com/2021/01/07/nat…

8/ It took this long for CDC to say that N95s were a supply issue

They are better masks; much better than the cloth masks many have been using. It didn’t have to be that way. Also they have incl more promotion of fitters— which, when used w surgical masks- are also excellent

9/ As we have said so many times— access to excellent respiratory protection will be an ongoing issue.

Future variants, future respiratory threats— vaccines will take time to update

Better masks can be available immediately.

But— even seeing this small advance makes me happy