Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” former Biden transition team COVID-19 adviser Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel addressed the efficacy of cloth masks.
According to Emanuel, “simple cloth masks are not good enough.” He instead recommended people wear an N95 mask to prevent catching coronavirus.
“[I] recommend wearing an N95 mask,” Emanuel told host Andrea Mitchell. “You can get them foldable, you can get them like in the screen, a cup version, you can get them in the duckbill version, and they really do make a difference. They’re not very expensive. They’re reusable, and if you’re going inside, I do think we have to up our ante. You know, wearing gaiters or just simple cloth masks are not good enough, and getting N95 is good.”
“It’s also important to make sure you are getting an N95 that’s NIOSH-approved,” he emphasized. “There are lots of fakes out there. About 60% of the KN-95s appear to be counterfeit, and a lot of them [are] not made to the high standards of 95% protection. But I totally agree with you, Andrea, that we do need to up our game. It’s not just masking — it’s proper masking, including the nose, and it’s masking with a good mask like an N95.”
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