NEW CUMBERLAND, Pa. –
The Defense Logistics Agency is working with the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Agriculture to provide more than 25 million cloth masks to low-income communities.
The White House announced the effort Feb. 24 stating that the free masks will be high-quality, washable and consistent with mask guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“All of these masks will be made in America and will not impact availability of masks for health care workers,” the statement said.
DLA Distribution is receiving and packing the masks for shipment to HHS-supplied addresses for community health centers and USDA-supplied addresses for food banks that serve 60,000 food pantries, soup kitchens and other food distribution points where workers will give the masks to 12 to 15 million low-income individuals through May.
The first 20,000 masks arrived at DLA Distribution Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, April 9 and will ship to pilot locations in New York, Illinois, Washington and Arkansas. Another 3,300 pallets of masks are scheduled to arrive later this month and will be repackaged and shipped to 1,400 community health centers, about 125 tribal organizations and 200 food banks across the country.