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MGH President Calls Coronavirus Mask Order From China 'Godsend,' Defends Quality Of KN95 Model

BOSTON (CBS) – A Boston Globe report said medical workers had "concerns" about a shipment of more than one million coronavirus masks the state secured from China earlier this month. But the president of Massachusetts General Hospital responded Monday, saying the mask order was a "godsend."

The shipment of masks included some KN95 models, which are different from the N95 personal protective equipment (PPE) masks that hospitals are seeking.

The majority of the masks arrived at Logan Airport on April 2 after Patriots ownership provided use of the team's airplane and donated about $2 million.

In the Boston Globe story published Sunday, the president of the Massachusetts Medical Society said KN95 masks are "not the gold standard."

Mass General president Peter Slavin disputed concerns about the masks in a statement of Monday. He said the equipment is a "godsend" in the midst of a "dire shortage of personal protective equipment."

In these extraordinary times, the FDA and the CDC have both authorized the use of KN95 respirators for health care workers. Infectious disease leaders have confirmed that a well-made KN95 is as effective as the more familiar N95. KN95s and N95s are similar products that must meet the same high standards of filtration, and they function in the same way. The purchase and delivery of these respirators to Massachusetts and New York were a godsend to frontline healthcare workers in hospitals and nursing homes who have been fearful and concerned about the dire shortage of personal protective equipment. The Governor and the Kraft family have done a great service to the state and have made caring for patients with COVID-19 safer. They deserve our heartfelt thanks.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health also issued a statement on the shipment of masks.

"The masks in this shipment, N95 and KN95, were inspected upon arrival and are authorized by the FDA for health care workers," the DPH said.

Tufts Medical Center said it received 2,000 KN95 masks from the shipment and "we are currently working on determining how to best implement them into use."

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said when the masks arrived that the state had to get creative after failing to acquire much needed protective equipment by more conventional methods.

"All those masks are FDA approved. All of them were inspected," the governor said Monday.

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