Free N95 masks from the federal government have started rolling out, and while distribution plans are still in the works for many parts of North Texas, pharmacies are slated to start passing out masks as early as Thursday.
Facilities that are part of the federal retail pharmacy program and federal community health centers are the two main funnels for mask distribution plans, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
The department earlier this week kicked off its plan to distribute 400 million N95 masks in response to the recent surge of omicron cases.
The masks offer better protection against COVID-19 transmission compared to cloth or surgical masks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kirsten Allen, a spokeswoman for U.S. Health and Human Services, said state and county health departments were not included in the rollout so the federal government could “move as quickly as possible in making masks available.”
“The Administration started to ship masks at the end of last week, and masks have already begun to be available at pharmacies and community health centers,” Allen said in a written statement. “The program will be fully up and running by early February.”
She added that the N95 mask distribution plan is the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history.
Each person will be allotted a maximum of three masks under the federal N95 mask distribution plan.
Representatives of large retail pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens told The Dallas Morning News that masks are ready for distribution but did not specify how many stores would give them out.
Meanwhile, only two federally approved community health centers in Texas — one in Waco and another in San Antonio — have currently been selected to be part of the N95 distribution process, according to the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration website.
Across Collin, Dallas and Tarrant counties, 30medical facilities are federally recognized as community health centers, according to the Texas Association of Community Health Centers.
Dr. Roxana Cruz, the association’s director of medical and clinical affairs, said it is not uncommon for the federal government to start with a small number of centers in the beginning phases of distributing pandemic-related resources like it did with vaccines and antiviral medication.
She said community health centers, which provide care to underserved and uninsured communities, filled out surveys so that the federal agency could prioritize which organizations would be part of the initial rollout plans for N95 masks.
“Two is a small number, so we are very hopeful that more are coming soon,” she said, referencing the two community health centers that are included in mask distribution plans.
Unlike the federal rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, state and county health departments are not a cog in the distribution process.
Texas Department of State Health Services and Dallas County Health and Human services confirmed recently that they are not involved in the N95 distribution plans.
Twenty-one companies, including CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Kroger and Costco, are part of the federal retail pharmacy program, according to the CDC’s website.
Scott Goldberg, a Walgreens spokesman, said the company expects to start passing out free N95 masks on Friday, but did not specify how many or which locations would have them available.
“Participating stores will have signage indicating mask availability,” Goldberg said in an email.
CVS spokeswoman Shannon Dillon said the company expects the first shipments of masks to be delivered “as early as Thursday.” She said all CVS pharmacies inside Target stores, and those that are currently offering COVID-19 vaccinations, will carry N95 masks.
Like Walgreens, participating CVS pharmacies will have signs showing which locations are offering free masks, she added.
Kristi Bare, a Kroger spokeswoman, said N95 masks will be available at any store that has a pharmacy at the location, adding that the company would start offering masks this week.
Lauren Willis, a spokeswoman for Walmart and Sam’s Club, said free N95 masks will be available over the “next few weeks” but did not say which locations would carry them.
She said Sam’s Club will not turn away people without memberships who want to pick up a mask.
Costco Wholesale Corp., which also operates under a membership model, declined to answer questions regarding mask distribution plans.
Staff writer Maria Halkias contributed to this report.