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Mike Roman, CEO and chairman of 3M, told CNBC Jan. 26 that the company expects demand for N95 masks to be strong throughout 2021. N95 masks are considered the best option to protect against COVID-19, CNBC reports. ... NPR reported Jan. 27 that hospital workers are still being asked to ration and reuse their supplies of N95s. The administration of President Joe Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act to prioritize manufacturing of N95 masks and other medical supplies. (Anderson, 1/27)

As Covid-19 took hold over the last year, hospitals and nursing homes used and reused scarce protective equipment — masks, gloves, gowns. This desperate frugality helped prevent the airborne transfer of the virus. But it also appears to have helped spread a different set of germs — drug-resistant bacteria and fungi — that have used the chaos of the pandemic to grow opportunistically in health care settings around the globe. (Richtel, 1/27)