Here's How to Get Free N95 Masks From Pharmacies or Community Health Centers

Redacted from CNN By Jacqueline Howard

The rollout of free N95 masks for the public began this week across the United States, with some pharmacies already handing out the masks and others expecting to do so in the coming days.

The program is part of the Biden administration's effort to distribute 400 million free N95 masks from the Strategic National Stockpile via pharmacies and community health centers. The program is expected to be fully up and running by early February. The masks are arriving at their destinations with accompanying flyers and signage from the US Department of Health and Human Services, which paid for the masks.

Here's what you need to know about getting a free N95 mask through this program:

Where can I find free N95 masks?

The masks will be available at a number of local pharmacies and community health centers, a White House official told CNN.

Participating pharmacies include Hy-Vee, Meijer, CVS, Walgreens and Kroger...

How many masks can I get?

The HHS flyer distributed with the free masks notes that up to three masks are "available to every person in the U.S."

Pharmacies plan to monitor how many masks people are taking at a time to make sure they don't take extra...

If the masks are at no cost to me, who paid for them?

The masks come from the United States' Strategic National Stockpile, maintained by HHS, which means the federal government paid for them.

"This effort represents 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," Dawn O'Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS, wrote in a blog post Friday.

The 400 million N95 masks amount to more than half of the 750 million stored in the Strategic National Stockpile, a figure that tripled over the past year as the White House sought to boost reserves.

Does this mean I should no longer wear other types of masks?

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasizes that "any mask is better than no mask."

The CDC recommends that Americans wear "the most protective mask you can that fits well and that you will wear consistently," and it notes that different types of masks can offer different levels of protection.

"Loosely woven cloth products provide the least protection, layered finely woven products offer more protection, well-fitting disposable surgical masks and KN95s offer even more protection, and well-fitting NIOSH-approved respirators (including N95s) offer the highest level of protection," according to the CDC.

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