Jan. 21—ROCKINGHAM — The federal government announced this week a plan to distribute 400 million free higher quality facemasks to combat the surge in COVID-19 cases, and a limited supply has arrived in Richmond County as of Thursday.
The masks that have been delivered so far are only available to industry, business, and jails for use by their employees, as well as to nursing homes, according to Health Director Cheryl Speight.
"I have none to give to individuals as we were only given enough to meet the needs of these businesses and organizations," Speight said in an email. "If I have any left in the next couple of weeks to offer I will make them open to the public."
There will be three masks available per person.
Prior to this latest delivery, the only place to get KN95 masks in Richmond County was Food Lion. Representatives from Walmart and Walgreens said that they do not carry them, though they do have surgical masks.
The CDC's guidance states that a well-fitting mask is better than no mask.
The Washington Post reported that the masks, which are N95 or KN95 masks from the Strategic National Stockpile, will be distributed via pharmacies and federal community health centers in order to be consistent with the locations where the public has been going to get vaccinated. The masks are expected to be available at pharmacies by early February.
The CDC last week made its most explicit statement yet that N95 and KN95 masks provide significantly better protection from transmission of COVID-19 than do cloth masks. The federal government has a stockpile of more than 750 million N95 masks, according to the Associated Press.
There have been two new COVID-19-related deaths since Jan. 12, bringing the total to 166 deaths, according to the Richmond County Health Department. As of Jan. 19, there are 28 county residents hospitalized with COVID-19, with a 35% positivity rate for the previous day's tests.
Between Friday, Jan. 14 and Jan. 19, Richmond County has seen 1,031 new cases of COVID-19, for an average of 206.2 new cases per day. This is much higher than the rate of new cases this time last year before vaccines were widely available.
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Reach Gavin Stone at 910-817-2673.