Biden's 400 million N95 free masks will be developed next week with confidence in the supply of masks

On January 19, local time, A U.S. White House official said that starting next week, the Biden administration will provide 400 million non-medical surgical N95 masks to the public free of charge from its national strategic reserve, which is the latest effort made by the Biden administration to help curb the new crown epidemic. The N95 masks will be shipped to pharmacies and community health centers this week and will be available later next week. In addition to distributing masks, the U.S. government offered free testing through a website that officially launched on Wednesday.

The official added, "This is the largest deployment of pped protective equipment in U.S. history, and the program will be fully operational and operational in early February." "The retail price of these masks online is about $1 to $2.

The move is understood to have come after the Biden team was criticized for not doing enough to push people to wear masks and step up testing. Previously, US President Biden announced on Thursday (January 13) that in order to strengthen the response to the surge in the number of cases related to the United States, the US government will provide hospitals with urgently needed help, and promised to provide free testing and high-quality masks for Americans. Biden said it would announce this week how to provide high-quality masks to the American people for free.

In addition, on Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its latest mask guideline update, advising the public to "wear the most effective protective mask possible," but did not advocate the use of N95 masks nationwide. CDC states on its website: "People can choose masks such as N95 and KN95 and don't have to worry about the shortage of N95 masks." The agency also added that Americans should "wear the most appropriate protective mask and wear it at all times." ”

In recent weeks, consumer demand for N95 and other protective masks has risen sharply on sites such as Amazon. While hospitals have recovered from severe N95 shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, several executives said the healthcare supply chain remains fragile.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as of Dec. 29, the U.S. government had 747 million N95 masks in its national strategic reserve, 59 times the pre-pandemic level. In addition, the U.S. mask manufacturer also said that it has machines that produce millions of N95 masks per month and will prioritize health care workers.

3M (MMM.US) is the largest manufacturer of N95 masks in the United States, with the company's factories in South Dakota, Nebraska and the rest of the world capable of producing more than 2 billion N95 masks per year.

It is worth noting that while the supply of adult N95 masks does not have to worry about the shortage, only a few U.S. manufacturers produce KN95 and other high-quality protective masks specifically for children. Lloyd Armbrust, president of the American Mask Manufacturers Association (AMMA) and founder of Texas mask maker Armbrost American, said the Biden administration appears interested in establishing a production base for child protective masks in the United States.

Armbrust produces adult N95 as well as kn95 for adults and children. In addition, 3M and Honeywell (HON. US) has the capacity to produce nearly 67 million KN95s for children.

As of press time, Honeywell was up 1.36% after hours at $213.59.