CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky announced on May 18 that a third of the U.S., including the Northeast and MIdwest, is at a higher risk of COVID-19 infections.AP

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Wednesday the country is not out of the woods yet when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Because of the spikes in positive cases due to the BA.2 variant of COVID-19, the CDC is again urging areas of the U.S. with quickly increasing infections and hospitalizations to begin wearing masks indoors, according to ABC News.

A third of Americans live in higher risk areas, particularly those living in the Northeast and Midwest.

CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky urged government leaders in areas with quickly increasing COVID-19 numbers to mitigate the issue by again enforcing the pandemic preventative strategies.

“We urge local leaders to encourage use of prevention strategies like masks in public indoor settings and increasing access to testing and treatment,” she said.

If you need to restock your mask supply, now might be the time to do so. N95 face masks have been proven to be the best protective option, followed by KN95 and KF94 masks.

Several reputable merchants like Honeywell specialize in NIOSH-certified N95 and KN95 mask sales with reasonably fast shipping, along with companies like N95 Medical Supplies and Vida.

Here is a list of some places where you can buy N95, KN95 and KF94 masks online:

Amazon has N95, KN95 and KF94 masks for sale, but be very careful about buying counterfeit ones if you choose to shop there.

An N95 mask “is a respiratory protective device designed to achieve a very close facial fit and very efficient filtration of airborne particles,” according to the FDA. Fit testing is also recommended to ensure a secure fit.

KN95 and KF94 masks are a cheaper alternative to N95 masks, as long as they “meet requirements similar to those set by CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for respirators,” according to the CDC.

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