solarz
Brigadier
If you have worn an N95 face mask before, you will immediately know that it is VERY uncomfortable to wear it for a long time. It's hard to breathe while wearing one and it is very hot and humid. Even with years of experience, I myself cannot keep wearing a mask for more than an hour or two. I cannot resist scratching my face, my nose and my eyes because every part of my face itches so badly... When I used to do experiments, I had to come out of the clean lab every hour or two, so that I could take off my mask to breathe and take off my gloves to scratch my face. Just imagine a little kid or a lay person. How well they can resist scratching and go on their activities when they can't even breathe normally behind an N95 mask... If you wear glasses, your glasses will be all fogged up since your own hot breath will be all directed upward to your glasses. It's very frustrating... then you want to mess with your glasses... Touching your face is one of the biggest risk factors of getting infected... Even for the medical staff during a pandemic, most of them get infected not when they wear their protection, but when they take off their contaminated gears.
This is rather beyond the issue, IMO.
If the US government wanted public health personnel to have masks instead of the general public, then they should take action to buy all available masks and stockpile them for healthcare providers.
What they (the politicians) are doing right now is simply absolving themselves of responsibility. If healthcare providers can't get enough masks, they can blame the general public for panic buying. If the general public can't get masks, they can say we need it for the healthcare providers. Either way, they have a way to shirk responsibility.