Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., told Newsmax Tuesday that the KN95 masks House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is forcing members to wear were bought in China with U.S. taxpayer money, and were considered “hazardous” by regulatory standards until recently.
“(Pelosi) has different COVID protocols in the House than are being followed in the Senate,” Davis said during “Spicer & Co.” Tuesday. “And now, to top it off, we must wear Chinese-made masks that studies show is 70% less effective, and frankly were labeled a hazard in September.”
Davis said the federal government has purchased “thousands of these” KN95 masks from China and are handing them out to members and their staffs, who are mandated to wear them in the U.S. Capitol complex, including while on the floor of the House of Representatives.
He said he is asking GOP members of Congress to join him in sending Pelosi a letter, asking her why she is using masks that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rate as an alternative to the accepted N95 masks, which are the standard for effectiveness in the United States.
“That's a question I hope she has to answer,” he said. “And we're sending a letter from our House Administration Committee that I'm asking all of my Republican colleagues to sign on, to get the answers as to why she is requiring members of Congress, and staff here on Capitol Hill to wear the KN95 masks that have been proven by studies to be 70% (effective), and who drove a 70% failure rate in meeting America's N95 standards, and frankly, as I said a few minutes ago, these masks were labeled hazardous by the U.S. government just last September.”
A study by the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, California, found that the N95 masks provided better protection than the KN95 version, but both provided more protection than cloth masks protecting against the transmission of COVID-19.
The study also noted, however, that some 60% of the KN95 masks circulating in the United States are “counterfeit.”
“If you’re in an enclosed space where you can’t distance from people, like a busy airport or inside of an airplane, we’re recommending some form of an N95 respirator,” the study said. “Two examples are N95 and KN95 masks. The N95 is the American standard and has straps that go around your head; the KN95 is the Chinese or Korean standard and has ear loops. The ‘95’ in its name means it filters out 95 percent of microparticles.”
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