State Of Colorado And Federal Government Distributing Masks
DENVER, CO —Colorado has announced that in order to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and assist in the mitigation of the virus spread, it will begin handing out free KN95 and surgical grade masks this week at public libraries, fire stations, recreation centers, YMCAs and community centers. There will be a limit of five masks per person per month.
Gov. Jared Polis' administration revealed the plan on Tuesday, and said the distribution would begin Wednesday and be handled by the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM). A list of distribution sites is available on the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment website.
A spokesperson from the governor's office said federal relief money will be used to cover the costs, according to CPR News.
"We are on a mission to help Coloradans keep themselves safe, and free medical grade masks are far more effective in preventing infection than cloth masks," Polis said. "By making free medical grade masks available at libraries across our state and soon for home delivery, we are giving Coloradans a powerful tool to avoid infection.
"We will continue to meet Coloradans where they are at when it comes to accessing the doctor approved vaccine, free testing at community sites, free tests delivered to your home and now providing free, surgical grade masks directly to communities."
The Colorado mask-distribution program comes just as The White House is finalizing its plan to make some 400 million N95 masks available for free to all Americans beginning next week.
According to SmartFilters.com, N95 masks are the U.S. standards for respirator masks, while KN95 masks are the Chinese standards for masks.
Mask manufacturer 3M said: "It is reasonable to consider" China's KN95s "equivalent" to U.S. N95s.
The N95 masks will be released from the Strategic National Stockpile and will be available for pickup at local community health centers and pharmacies, the Associated Press reported.
Details of the plan — part of a broader administration program to blunt the spread of COVID-19 — were still emerging Wednesday morning.
In general, the N95 masks will be available for pickup late next week at pharmacies and health centers in Colorado that partnered with the federal government's COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
People can get up to three masks, the White House said, "to ensure broad access for all Americans."
The nationwide N95 mask distribution is part of a wider COVID-19 response plan that included this week's rollout of a website where Americans can sign up to receive free coronavirus rapid tests.
The release still leaves the United States with a reserve of 350,000 of the highly protective N95 masks, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said offer better protection against the coronavirus's omicron variant than cloth face coverings.
N95 and KN95 masks are more widely available now than they were early in the pandemic, but costlier than the less-protective surgical or cloth masks.
The CDC updated its face covering guidance Friday, clearly stating that properly fitted N95 and KN95 masks offer the most protection against COVID-19, but it stopped short of recommending them over cloth masks.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said last week the best mask "is the one that you will wear and the one you keep on all day long, that you can tolerate in public indoor settings."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on the Denver Patch
