SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Beginning on Monday, Jan. 24, the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) will be handing out a set of five free N95 or KF94 masks to every student in the district.
All staff members already got their set of free masks last week.
This comes a little more than a week after the CDC told people to ditch their cloth masks for N-95 masks in order to get the highest level of protection amid a surge of the omicron variant.
Superintendent Jore Aguilar said it will be a difficult job figuring out how to get these masks out to every staff member and student in less than three weeks, but that it is worth it.
"These masks will not only increase our health safety for in-person learning but will provide access to the best PPE for our students when they are away from school in other public settings," Aguilar said.
High schools and middle schools are first in line starting on Monday and are expected to get their masks by Friday.
Next week, masks will go to students in kindergarten through 6th grade.
"Our protection efforts for students and teachers has been exhaustive thanks to these masks and the other precautions we have been able to undertake with take-home test distribution, surveillance testing, school testing centers, vaccination clinics and additional health services," said Christina Pritchett, the Board of Education President for the Sacramento City Unified School District.
School sites will be communicating with parents and guardians on exactly which day the masks will be going out.
All masks are expected to be handed out no later than Friday, Feb. 4.
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