The Longmont Public Library has given out 4,000 of the favored COVID-19 KN95 masks to residents and thousands more are ready to be distributed, Library Director Nancy Kerr said Thursday.
Kerr said the library began handing out the masks on Friday.
“We have thousands still available to give out, and while we can request more at any time, I don’t know if at some point they will no longer be available,” Kerr said via email. “For now, it’s ‘until supplies last.’”
More than 1.7 million free KN95 and surgical grade masks have been delivered to 386 distribution points across the state, according to a news release from Gov. Jared Polis’s office this week.
The mask distribution is part of an ongoing effort by the state to provide high quality personal protective equipment to Coloradans who might be especially at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic, the news release states.
With the ongoing surge of the COVID-19 omicron variant, the state recommends people upgrade from cloth masks to medical-grade masks like KN95 or surgical masks, the news release states. Information and distribution sites can be found at covid-19.colorado.gov/freemasks.
The library also has a smaller supply of adult-size disposable surgical masks to hand out, which offer less protection than a KN95 mask but which fit some faces better, Kerr said.
