Experts Call for Better Masks as Pandemic Rolls On

Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. Abraar Karan, MD, has been treating COVID-19 patients for 10 months. In that time, he hasn't gotten the virus, and he credits his N95 mask for protecting him. "I've seen more COVID patients than I can count since March, and I get tested regularly, and I've not tested positive. I want others to have that kind of protection, too, " says Karan, an internal medicine doctor at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. But N95 masks are in short supply, and Karan says he's frustrated that high-filtration, or hi-fi, masks aren't available for the public nearly 1 year into the coronavirus pandemic. Karan recently co-authored an op-ed highlighting his concerns and calling for a national initiative to make masks with higher filtration easier to get — even having the government send them to people's homes.