Feds to Allocate N95 Masks to States Based on Coronavirus Risk

A federal stockpile of N95 masks that guard against the spread of respiratory diseases including the COVID-19 coronavirus will be allocated proportionally to states based on risk, according to Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd.

Kidd told lawmakers at a hearing of the Texas House Public Health Committee March 10 that the masks will go to health care workers responding to actual or potential cases of coronavirus and should not be worn by ordinary members of the public. 

N95 respirators fit closer to the face than ordinary surgical masks and are designed to block at least 95% of very small (0.3 micron) test particles.

The Texas Emergency Management Chief said, “We are aware that there is a national stockpile for N95s. But in my conversation with the person that manages that stockpile, because they know the size of that stockpile, the requests from all local governments are going to be many times more than is there.”

“So our federal partners are working on a proration, if you will, based on population for states and risk that they are seeing in how that stockpile will be distributed. We don’t know exactly when that will happen.” 

He added, “But we are urging all of our response partners to follow the CDC and DSHS (Department of State Health Services) guidelines on the use of PPD (personal protective devices), to make sure that we all recognize it’s a resource right now, and like all resources, we want to manage them efficiently.”

N95 Shortage and Contingency Plans

The federal stockpile of medicines and medical supplies is called the Strategic National Stockpile and is managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The department said recently that it holds about 30 millions N95 respirators, and plans to buy 500 million more over the next 18 months.

“In an emergency, the Strategic National Stockpile could disperse the existing products as well as any available quantity obtained through future contracts to areas in need as requested by state health officials,” the department noted in a press release.

National media outlets have been reporting that some hospitals have been unable to get new shipments of N95 masks. Many retail sellers report the masks being out-of-stock, and counterfeit products have flooded online marketplaces like Amazon.

Last month, several countries affected by coronavirus banned the export of N95 masks. In the meantime, U.S. manufacturers ramped up production. U.S makers of the masks include a 3M plant in Minnesota, which Vice President Mike Pence visited last week, and a Prestige Ameritech plant in North Richland Hills, Texas.

Even as manufacturers increase production, federal health authorities are planning for a pandemic scenario in which the masks run low or run out. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Feb. 29 released a document on its website entitled, “Strategies for Optimizing the Supply of N95 Respirators.”

The document includes “crisis strategies” for what to do when N95 supplies run low or run out, including limited re-use of the masks (re-wearing the masks is not currently recommended), and prioritization of the masks by activity type. 

Not for the General Public: ‘Adds to the Panic’

State and federal health officials currently do not recommend that the general public wear N95 respirators to protect themselves from coronavirus (COVID-19).

Texas Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd said at the March 10 legislative hearing, “The mask should not be worn by the healthy citizen at this point. It is a resource and it is a resource that has limits. We want to make sure that those are preserved for the health care providers.”

“I think putting something over your face, if you are sick, will help limit the spread, but for our healthy citizens that are walking around buying the masks, taking them out of the supply chain, wearing them around their neck, wearing them over their mouth but not over their nose — it’s not helpful. It creates a false sense of security, and in some cases, I think it even adds to the panic whenever you see somebody wearing a mask out in public.”

“We want to reserve those masks for the proper healthcare authorities, whether it be our EMTs and paramedics on the street that are making 911 calls into the unknown, or our doctors and nurses in the ER that are taking care of patients as they come in, or your family practice physician that really need to make sure they have the right resources to protect themselves so they can keep providing care of our community,” he said.

The U.S. Surgeon General said something similar recently, tweeting, “Seriously people – STOP BUYING MASKS!  They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!”

The CDC says on its website, “For the general American public, there is no added health benefit to wear a respiratory protective device (such as an N95 respirator), and the immediate health risk from COVID-19 is considered low.”