(WCMH/AP) – The former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging people to wear better masks as new COVID-19 strains begin to emerge in the United States.

Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC during the Obama Administration, tweeted Monday encouraging people to upgrade “from a cloth mask to a surgical mask, or from a surgical mask to an N95/KN95/equivalent.”

Health experts have warned that the new COVID-19 variant sweeping through Britain will probably become the dominant source of infection in the U.S. by March. It has been reported in over 20 states, including Ohio, so far. Another mutant version is circulating in South Africa.

Replying to a tweet about where to find reliable medical grade masks, Frieden stated it was his hope the federal government would “establish standards and certification and bring order to the Wild West of mask sales on the internet.”