The city will now work to distribute 7.5 million free face masks across the five boroughs, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Monday.
On Friday, the mayor announced that the city would distribute 100,000 free face coverings across the five boroughs during his daily coronavirus briefing to encourage New Yorkers to do their part in mitigating the spread of the novel coronavirus by covering the mouths and noses especially as more people head to parks and newly opened streets to enjoy the warmer weather.
“I know putting on a face mask is not necessarily fun,” said Mayor de Blasio. “But it’s going to feel really good when we get out of this.”
On April 15, Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered all New Yorkers to wear a face covering in public.
After de Blasio’s Friday press conference, the mayor’s office released an online map of where and when park employees would hand out packages of white cloth face masks over the weekend, Monday and Tuesday.
The new millions of masks will be given out at parks, grocery stores, New York City Housing Authority buildings, Mitchell-Lama buildings and schools that are also distributing grab-and-go meals.
The mayor also announced that city agencies are sending nursing homes 1.9 million surgical masks, 170,000 face shields, 760,000 surgical gloves, 173,000 surgical gowns, 15,000 coveralls and 10,000 shoe coverings.
This story originally appeared on amny.com.
