Washington DC — The federal government plans to distribute 400-million free face masks, in addition to millions more COVID-19 test kits, ideas Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says are good but may be too little, too late.
The N-95 masks are said to offer better protection than cloth coverings and they’ll be passed out, three per adult, at pharmacies and health centers. Grassley says that will likely take a few weeks.
The government website to order the free COVID test kits crashed on Tuesday after being overloaded by heavy demand.
The test kits will be sent out in packages of four tests each, one package per household. Grassley says the logistics of labeling, mailing out and delivering millions of test kits over the next few weeks presents its own set of problems.
To request a test kit, sign up at the website covidtests.gov. The N-95 masks are coming from the Strategic National Stockpile and the White House says this will be the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in the nation’s history.
