January 20, 2022: -President Joe Biden will make 400 million highly protective N95 masks available to Americans for free at pharmacies, and community health centers in the U.S., a White House official said.

According to the official, the masks will begin to become available late next week, and the program will be fully up and running by early February. The White House said the free shows are the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history.

In updated guidance published last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said N95 respirators are more effective at preventing transmission of the virus than cloth and surgical masks. Although, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky has said wearing any mask is much better than no mask.

The CDC said N95 masks must form a seal on the face to work properly, warning that gaps can let respiratory droplets carry virus particles in and out of the show. The CDC provides a factsheet to demonstrate how N95s should be worn.

The CDC recommends that everyone two years of age or older wear masks indoors in public spaces regardless of vaccination status in areas with substantial or high levels of viral transmission. According to the agency, Currently, virtually every county in the U.S. has transmission of the virus.

People are required by federal law to wear masks on planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation.

Democrats in Congress are pushing the Biden administration to provide N95 masks to Americans for free as the highly contagious omicron Covid variant has swept the country, which causes unprecedented infection levels. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., reintroduced legislation in the previous week to deliver three N95 masks to every person in the U.S. The legislation has 50 cosponsors in the House and Senate.

“Congress demands the mass production and distribution of N95 masks, one of the most effective ways to stop the spread of the Covid virus,” Sanders said in a statement.

Researchers in Australia found that fabric masks are at least 50% effective at filtering virus particles, whereas N95 and surgical masks are 99% effective. The study will be published in the peer-reviewed journal Pathogens in September 2020.

The Biden administration disturbs free at-home Covid tests to American households. Each home can order four Covid tests at www.covidtests.gov.