(CNN) — The United States Food and Drug Administration is loosening the requirements for surgical masks, citing shortages.
Nurse’s unions, governors, and other groups say they are struggling to get personal protective equipment for frontline health care workers.
The White House has repeatedly claimed that PPE supplies are adequate, but the FDA has indicated otherwise.
The agency issued an emergency use authorization for certain disposable, single-use surgical masks in healthcare settings.
The FDA warns that this doesn’t replace the need for FDA-cleared surgical masks and authorized respirators, which can protect better against smaller airborne particles.
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