The Biden administration achieved a breakthrough in mid-April by vaccinating over 50% of its total adult population. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is still adamant in telling us that no one is out of the woods yet.
Face masks are big business these days and fly-by-night manufacturers are certainly taking advantage of the pandemic. Since the start of the year and as the new administration is slowly gearing up to open up the economy, over 20 million counterfeit N95 respirators have been seized by federal authorities across the U.S with more arrests expected in the coming months.
According to the country’s leading epidemiologists, we all might be wearing face masks until 2022. And as the Biden administration recently released a directive on the wearing of face masks in all federal buildings along with 27 states extending their respective mask mandates, the production of medical-grade N95 and KN95 respirators is also increasing.
A lot has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged worldwide particularly on how health experts are encouraging the public to protect themselves. Last year, filtering respirators such as the N95 and KN95 varieties were in short supply prompting health authorities to reserve them for medical use only. However, health authorities are now recommending the wearing of N95 and KN95 respirators for the general public instead of opting for low-grade face masks this year.
Since face masks and respirators are here to stay in our continuing fight against COVID-19, many brands are integrating fashion with function in their products, leaving many to wonder if these essentials can be turned into fashion statements.
While the Biden administration has tapped the Defense Production Act to further push the increased production of personal protective equipment (PPEs) for healthcare professionals all over the U.S., there is still a growing concern about the shortage of medical-grade N95 and KN95 respirators in the market today.
With the increasing demand for medical-grade N95 and KN95 respirators that can provide healthcare workers a 95% level of protection against COVID-19, supplies are quickly running out and forcing some medical staff to wear surgical masks instead.
While vaccines continue to make headlines across the globe, face masks such as N95 and KN95 respirators cannot be simply dropped out of the news radar as more contagious COVID-19 strains are spreading infection like wildfire globally.
While several COVID-19 vaccine brands have already secured emergency use authorization from the World Health Organization (WHO) and many other countries, there are still a few questions from the general public concerning their efficacies, potential adverse effects, or if we should keep wearing face masks after being vaccinated.
After a year of dealing with COVID-19, more than 250 million people have been infected by the virus with nearly 3 million fatalities to date and still rising. As countries race against time to achieve herd immunity with the few available vaccines, most of us are still struggling to adapt to what is now the new normal.
The term ‘new normal’ started to gain traction early last year as every country started to implement social distancing, the wearing of face masks, and quarantines to try and curb the spread of the coronavirus. More people soon learned to adjust to ‘work from home’ arrangements and ordering essentials online but some adjustments just proved to be more intolerable for many than others. Soon, more employees fell to mass furloughing and unemployment, while companies across all industries were shuttered due to the pandemic’s economic backlash.
Redefining the new normal
Now knowing how COVID-19 acts as a double-edged sword that spells consequences to both public health and the global economy, it is essential to revisit where we are now in the new normal.
One huge factor that was left unchecked from the first year of the pandemic and the last year of the previous U.S. administration was the establishment of proper protocols on new normal guidelines and safety nets on the general public’s health that would have helped contain its spread. Face masks and N95 respirators turned into a political issue as the 2020 elections approached, and the pandemic was simply not taken seriously as it should have been.
Addressing new normal needs
While the new Biden administration is taking more drastic measures to streamline its inoculation campaigns and promote infection control, several states are still keen on relaxing its mandates on the wearing of face masks. Such a move could further delay the current administration’s target of a semblance to normalcy by the 2nd half of this year.
CDC recommendations are still in place on the wearing of face masks in public, preferably those that are made in the US, and pass the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Hazard (NIOSH) standards on filtration and fitting. The problem is that the country needs over 50 million N95 respirators a year and even the largest producers like 3M or Honeywell cannot meet the demands which prompted other players like The USA Mask Company to step up and deliver higher quality KN95 respirators which like N95 respirators, are also 95% effective against aerosol particles like COVID-19, to the global market.
Know where you can buy genuine, US-made KN95 respirators and how they can protect you from COVID-19 here.