(CNN) — The Biden administration will make 400 million N95 masks available to Americans for free starting next week, a White House official told CNN, the latest federal step aimed at reining in the COVID-19 surge.
The masks — which are coming from the Strategic National Stockpile — will be made available at pharmacies and community health centers, the official said, adding that the program will be “fully up and running by early February.”
“This is the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history,” the official said.
Under the program, each adult can get three masks, the Washington Post reported. There are not yet any certified N95s in children’s sizes, but the program’s administrators hope to soon be able to provide “high-quality masks” in smaller sizes.
The 400 million non-surgical N95 masks amount to more than half of the 750 million stored in the Strategic National Stockpile, a figure that tripled over the last year as the White House sought to boost reserves. The U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention recently advised that well-fitting respirators approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health — such as N95 masks — offer “the highest level of protection” against COVID-19.
N95 masks and their international counterparts KN95 and KF94 are usually made of polypropylene, a synthetic fiber, and are designed to fit snugly to the face. Correctly worn, they are said to filter out at least 95% of particulate matter, blocking anything larger than 0.3 microns.
The administration’s step comes as the U.S. grapples with an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases. An average of more than 750,000 new Covid-19 infections were reported every day over the past week, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
“I know we all wish that we could finally be done with wearing masks. I get it,” Biden said last week in remarks on his administration’s coronavirus response. “But there is a — they’re a really important tool to stop the spread, especially of the highly transmittable Omicron variant. So, please, please wear the mask.”
Earlier this month, the CDC changed its mask guidelines to recommend that people “wear the most protective mask you can that fits well and that you will wear consistently.”
“Cloth masks are little more than facial decorations. There’s no place for them in light of Omicron,” CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and visiting professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, recently said on “CNN Newsroom.”
Beyond masks, the federal government has also launched its website to sign up for free at-home COVID-19 tests, allowing people to order a maximum of four tests shipped directly to their household.
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