Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical School, displays two of the acceptable N95 face masks that are included in the new COVID-19 vaccination policy, Friday, July 16, 2021, during a news conference in Jackson, Miss. The new policy encourages all employees, students and anyone who works or learns in a UMMC facility or clinic to get fully vaccinated, with limited exceptions, or to wear an N95 mask at all times while at any UMMC facility. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
The Biden administration is giving out free N95 masks and COVID tests
Masks will be handed out through pharmacies and community health centers.
By Rachel Treisman/NPR
Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical School, displays two of the acceptable N95 face masks that are included in the new COVID-19 vaccination policy, Friday, July 16, 2021, during a news conference in Jackson, Miss. The new policy encourages all employees, students and anyone who works or learns in a UMMC facility or clinic to get fully vaccinated, with limited exceptions, or to wear an N95 mask at all times while at any UMMC facility. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
The Biden administration plans to send 400 million N95 face masks to give out free through pharmacies and community health centers, part of an effort to increase access to high-quality masks to control the spread of COVID-19.
The government will ship masks from its stockpile starting at the end of the week. Some will be available late next week, with more available in early February, the White House told reporters. The move comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance last week to emphasize N95s — and as the government starts to send at-home test kits to Americans by mail.
The masks will be available through pharmacies in the federal retail pharmacy program — which includes major grocery stores and retail pharmacy chains.
PLUS: The federal government website offering free at-home COVID-19 tests is now live. Click here to order your four free tests per household — the process takes just seconds, and the tests will ship out via the U.S. Postal Service within 7-12 days.
The U.S. Postal Service has begun taking orders for free at-home coronavirus test kits.
