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The Biden Administration Is Giving Out Free N95 Masks In Addition To COVID Tests
A worker at a Honeywell International Inc. factory producing N95 masks May 5, 2020, in Phoenix, Arizona.
(
Brendan Smialowski
/
AFP via Getty Images
)
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.
If you're also shopping for your own, here's how to find high-quality N95s that fit.
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 to 12 days.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit npr.org.
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