Free N95 masks arriving at pharmacies and stores around the country

WASHINGTON — Pharmacies and health centers around the country have begun distributing the first of the 400 million N95 masks the White House is sending out to combat the fast-spreading omicron variant of Covid-19.

President Joe Biden announced the initiative last week, sending out masks from the Strategic National Stockpile as health experts stressed the importance of high-quality face coverings to protect against omicron variant.

“We know that these masks provide better protection than cloth masks,” Dr. Tom Inglesby, the administration’s Covid testing coordinator, told NBC News last week.

The Department of Health and Human Services said the masks would be available at “thousands of pharmacies and community health centers nationwide.” The agency described the effort as “the largest deployment by the Strategic National Stockpile to date and it’s also the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history.”

A White House official said Mills Civic Hy-Vee in West Des Moines, Iowa began distributing masks on Friday, and Hy-Vee was expecting to have masks available at their 200+ stores across Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Nebraska soon.

The masks arrived with flyers encouraging people to “mask up and maximize your protection.”

The Meijer supermarket chain has also received masks and will make them available at their stores across Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin, the official said. The N95 masks will be in boxes set on a table near the Meijer Greeter stand of the grocery entrance.

Masks are expected to begin arriving at Southeastern Grocers locations as early as Friday and will be available at the company’s Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie in-store pharmacies.

A spokesperson for Walgreens told NBC-5 Chicago the chain expects to start giving out masks at some locations by Friday as well. “Participating stores will have signage indicating mask availability,” the spokesperson said.

The White House said individuals will be limited to three masks per person to ensure broad access to the program. It’s unclear how many have been distributed to date.

Jeff Zients, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator, said late last week that “We’ve already shipped millions of these masks out and across the country, and in the coming days, masks will begin to be available at local pharmacies and community health centers.”

The White House has said that the administration hopes to have the program fully operational by early February.

The effort comes as the White House has also put together a plan to mail out hundreds of millions of free Covid-19 home tests — up to four per household — to people who want them.

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