The White House plans to distribute 400 million N95 dust masks beginning next week at no cost, The Washington Post reported.
The news comes a day after the White House launched its website to distribute millions of free at-home COVID rapid antigen tests.
N95 respirator masks are tightly woven triple layered synthetic cloth masks typically worn by healthcare workers, painters, and factory workers to filter bacteria, dust, aerosol paint, and other large particles.
N95 masks are so-called because they filter out 95% of particles down to 0.3 microns.
The coronavirus measures around 0.1 microns or smaller.
In 2020, Pres. Joe Biden announced a joint effort with the US Postal Service to mail millions of blue surgical face masks to American homes.
However, late last year, the CDC finally admitted blue surgical masks are useless against the virus. Surgical masks were designed to trap larger bacteria – not virus.
RELATED: Health experts say cloth surgical masks are ‘not effective’ against omicron
The CDC recommended N95 or KN95 masks for adults and children to battle the mild Omicron virus.
The White House said the N95 masks will be distributed by the Strategic National Stockpile, which has about 750 million N95 masks.
