Free N95 Masks from US Government

[Mayhem]

The Biden administration will begin making 400 million N95 masks available for free to U.S. residents starting next week, now that federal officials are emphasizing their better protection against the omicron variant of COVID-19 over cloth face coverings.

The White House announced Wednesday that the masks will come from the government's Strategic National Stockpile, which has more than 750 million of the highly protective masks on hand. The masks will be available for pickup at pharmacies and community health centers across the country.

https://apnews.com/article/biden-government-free-n95-masks-program-2b4a59953281ca16028244ab9a5b1d6e

[Squid]

I'm grateful for the mask but I am feeling doubtful about the distribution plan.  I hope I'm wrong.

[Mayhem]

Are these N95 masks mandatory now in the US?

I got my booster shot yesterday and they made me take of my cloth mask - and gave me one of the standard blue ones (not N95).

I'm sure what that was all about ..

[Squid]

They have ranked the masks in order of effectiveness.  The masks offer protection in this order:

• N95
• KN95 and the like
• Common surgical masks
• cloth masks

N95 masks are HIGHLY recommended, not required.  Uncle Sam wants us to use them to combat omicron further, hence they are offering them for free.

[Mayhem]

Good to know! The N95 masks here cost $6 each. I picked up a few of them, but haven't used one yet.

The omicron here is starting to get bad, so now the grocery stores are only allowing 50% capacity. They have people standing at the door now controlling the flow of traffic.