MONDAY, April 6, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Emergency use authorization of protective masks that do not meet American standards has been announced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The KN95 masks meet Chinese standards but not U.S. ones. They are almost identical in performance to U.S.-approved N95 masks, with slight differences in their specifications.
KN95 masks are a suitable alternative when N95s are not available, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
U.S. hospitals and other facilities are struggling to find enough N95 masks to provide to health care workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of Monday afternoon, there were 356,942 COVID-19 cases and more than 10,500 deaths reported in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University.
More Information: FDA
More Information: CDC
Johns Hopkins University
