The White House announced Wednesday it will make 400 million N95 masks free to the American public starting next week. This comes days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced its preference for N95 masks over cloth ones, saying they provide more protection. Studies have shown masks to have varying levels of effectiveness both as protection to the wearer, and as a source control—stopping infected individuals from spreading the virus. Studies have shown cloth masks to be much less effective than the N95s and KN95s. The best mask “is the one that you will wear and the one you can keep on all day long, that you can tolerate in public indoor settings,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said last week. The new free masks will come from the federal government’s Strategic National Stockpile, which totals more than 750 million masks. The masks will be shipped out …