increase in the number of new covid cases, and that s causing concern among health care workers about the impact the omicron variant could have on hospitals. that s why doctors at baylor college of medicine have been handing out thousands of masks in houston. dr. cedric darke is a professor of medicine there. you had the stockpile of masks on hand that have been sent to the hospital. what made you decide that you should start handing them out to p passersby? thanks for having me on. i wanted to thank the texas college of emergency physicians for donating these masks to our department, to our staff. one of the things we wanted to do was actually distribute them out to members of our community because if we can put a mask and specifically n95 masks in peoples hands, which is the most effective type of protection they can have, we can hopefully prevent them from catching covid and prevent them from coming to the er in the first place. what s the reaction when you