This morning, the Biden administration announced it would distribute 400 million N95 masks to the public for free. The masks will be made available at local pharmacies and health centers. The announcement comes on the heels of the launch of covidtests.gov, a website where people can sign up to receive four free COVID-19 at-home tests per household delivered right to their doors.
Below are a collection of headlines about President Biden’s latest push to lead us out of the pandemic:
CNN: Biden Administration to Distribute 400 Million N95 Masks to the Public for Free. “The Biden administration will make 400 million N95 masks available to Americans for free starting next week, a White House official told CNN, the latest federal step aimed at reining in the US’ Covid-19 surge. The masks — which are coming from the Strategic National Stockpile — will be made available at a number of local pharmacies and community health centers, the official said, adding that the program will be ‘fully up and running by early February.’ ‘This is the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in US history,’ the official said.” [CNN, 1/19/22]
NYT: The Biden Administration Will Give Away Masks in the ‘Largest Deployment’ of Such Equipment in U.S. History. “The White House said in a statement on Wednesday that the government would begin shipping N95 masks to pharmacies and health centers at the end of this week, and that the masks were expected to be available at the end of next week. The program would be in full gear by early February, the statement said. The masks will come from the Strategic National Stockpile, the nation’s emergency reserve, which was badly depleted at the outset of the pandemic, leaving health care workers without masks and other personal protective gear essential to fighting the novel virus.” [New York Times, 1/19/22]
CNBC: Biden Will Make 400 Million N95 Masks Available to Americans for Free. “Researchers in Australia found that fabric masks are at least 50% effective at filtering virus particles, while N95 and surgical masks are about 99% effective. The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Pathogens in September 2020. The Biden administration is also distributing free at-home Covid tests to American households. Every home can order four Covid tests at www.covidtests.gov”. [CNBC, 1/19/22]
Politico: Biden Plans Giveaway of 400m Masks as Omicron Surges. “The administration plans to make the masks available at tens of thousands of pharmacies and health centers by early February, the White House official said, which people will then be able to pick up for free. The supply will not include child-sized masks, though two people with knowledge of the matter said the government is working to procure them. Still, it represents the most significant federal effort to distribute face coverings since the pandemic began. The Biden administration last year sent out more than 30 million masks to sites within high-risk communities, though those were cloth coverings.” [Politico, 1/18/22]
CBS News: Biden Administration to Give Out 400 Million Free N95 Masks. “The initiative is a step up from the several million reusable cloth masks that were supplied for free by his administration last year through places like health centers and food banks. ‘I know we all wish that we could finally be done with wearing masks. I get it. But there is — they’re a really important tool to stop the spread, especially of a highly transmittable Omicron variant,’ Mr. Biden said.” [CBS News, 1/19/22]
AP: Biden to Give Away 400 Million N95 Masks Starting Next Week. “This will be the largest distribution of free masks by the federal government to the public since the COVID-19 pandemic began. In early 2020, then-President Donald Trump’s administration considered and then shelved plans to send masks to all Americans at their homes.” [Associated Press, 1/19/22]
Forbes: 400 Million Free N95 Masks: Biden Will Announce Rollout as Battle Against Omicron Steps Up. “Some 400 million N95 face masks will be available for free at thousands of locations across the country from late January, the White House is expected to announce Wednesday, a day after the premature launch of a free nationwide at-home testing scheme as the Biden administration ramps up efforts to fight the rapidly spreading omicron variant of coronavirus.” [Forbes, 1/19/22]
WSJ: Free N95 Masks to Be Made Available at Pharmacies, White House Says. “The move comes as President Biden has stepped up the federal government’s response to a nationwide surge in Covid-19 cases triggered by the highly transmissible Omicron variant. Some scientists and doctors have said popular single-layer cloth masks may not be sufficient to protect against Omicron and called on the administration to expand access to high-filtration masks such as N95s.” [Wall Street Journal, 1/19/22]