Beginning in March, Biden’s administration will deliver the masks to more than 1,300 community health centers and to 60,000 food pantries and soup kitchens across the country. The White House says an estimated 12 to 15 million Americans will receive masks as a result of these efforts.
The masks are “free of charge, of high quality, washable, and in accordance with CDC mask guidelines,” the White House said. “All of these masks will be made in America and will not affect the availability of masks for health professionals.”
Zients stressed that the effort was aimed at Americans who might want to wear masks but don’t have access.
“With this action we contribute to a level playing field and we offer vulnerable population groups well-fitting masks of good quality,” says Zients.
Biden has repeatedly stressed the importance of wearing masks in public to minimize the spread of the virus. The president mandated the wearing of masks on federal property once he took office, and masks are now mandatory on public transportation as well as at airports and transit stations.
Biden said Tuesday that the White House would “likely” move to ship face masks directly to Americans.
The US Postal Service planned to distribute 650 million face covers for the Trump administration last April, according to internal documents reviewed by CNN in September. A senior government official at the time told The Washington Post that the plan had been scrapped by the White House because some advisers feared it might cause “concern or panic.”