The distribution of 400 million non-surgical N95 masks began this past week following a Jan. 19 announcement that the Biden Administration would make masks available for free to U.S. residents — aimed at combatting the ongoing omicron variant surge.
The initiative is a response to mounting pressure from public health experts and senate democrats that had previously pushed the Biden Administration to provide three N95 masks to Americans free of charge as the omicron variant continued to surge across the country.
University of Central Arkansas students have been dealing with the reality of attending college amid a pandemic since the spring of 2020.
“We are almost three years into the pandemic at this point. We should’ve had free masks provided to the public years ago,” UCA graduate student Carly Wilson said.
“I believe the Biden Administration is trying to do what they can to prevent the new variant from hitting any harder due to spikes from the holidays, upcoming spring breakers and summer vacations,” UCA freshmen Erin Smith said.
The 400 million N95 masks set to be distributed account for more than half the government’s Strategic National Stockpile of 750 million masks.
“I think that the Biden Administration is a little late; although we’re still in the surge, we’re past the peak. I think the higher protection masks should have always been available to everyone. To make the more effective masks more expensive, whether planned or not, is classist and totally wack,” senior Vivianne Flora said.
The Biden Administration expects the program to be fully up and running by early February, with masks available for pickup at thousands of pharmacies and community health centers across the country that partnered with the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
“I plan on taking advantage of the free masks as I’ll be working in the UCA Speech Language Hearing Center this semester. They’ve provided us with N95’s, but it can’t hurt to have more at my disposal,” Wilson said.
“I had no idea that there were N95’s available at all. Now that I know, I will probably take advantage of it, though,” Flora said.
“I definitely plan to take advantage of the initiative and get my free N95 mask because they are proven to work better than the cloth and blue disposable masks we usually have on campus,” Smith said.
Walgreens, Kroger, Walmart and CVS are among the many U.S. retailers where the N95 masks — three per adult — will be made available.
The pharmacy giant Walgreens released the following statement on Jan. 28, “We are pleased to partner with the Administration to make N95 masks in varying sizes available free of charge at participating Walgreens locations while supplies last. Masks have begun to roll out to the first wave of stores and will continue to roll out into additional stores in the coming days and weeks. We anticipate all participating stores will receive supply by mid-February.”
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has a list available online — searchable by state — of participating pharmacies in the Federal Pharmacy Retail Program initially set up to distribute COVID-19 vaccines that will have the N95 masks available.
The CDC recently updated its guidance on face coverings, stating that well-fitted N95 and KN95 masks offer the highest level of protection against COVID-19 and are more effective at preventing transmission of the virus.
The CDC continues to recommend wearing a mask in public indoor settings — even those who are vaccinated — to maximize protection and prevent possibly spreading COVID-19 to others.
UCA will provide students with a UCA-branded covering — a neck gaiter — upon request. All UCA neck gaiters have been modified to meet CDC standards. Neck gaiters are available in the Office of Student Life in the Ronnie Williams Student Center room 207, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. In addition, Student Life will have KN95 masks available for students on request.