HONESDALE, Pa. — Wayne Memorial Community Health Centers received nearly 10,000 N95 masks to give to anyone who wants them. They are giving out two per person at several of its offices. The masks have been made available by the federal government to help stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
"They were really earmarked for health care professionals, but now that there's been this mass quantity available from the government, it gives people in the community a better layer of protection versus a surgical mask or a cloth mask," said Wynter Newman, the administrative director for Wayne Memorial Community Health Centers.
Newman says if you have an N95 mask, it's important to keep it clean if you plan on reusing it.
"What you would do is you would place it face down like kind of paper towel and let it circulate with air for a while to dry off, and then you can store it in a paper bag. It's just really important to take care of them, and I think the better you take care of them and the easier you are on them when you're putting them on and taking them off, you should be able to get longer, you know, longevity out of them."
We also wanted to know what to look for when it's time to get rid of the mask.
"As long as the elastic on them stays, it keeps its integrity. They can be used multiple times. They say to discard them if they become soiled. If they become, you know, really moist or anything, that's when you really want to discard them and pick up another."
The N95 mask program distributes masks from several different companies. The CDC's website has information on every type of mask that was given out and on how to properly store and keep that mask clean.
"It gives you a list of every manufacturer that distributed these and gives a picture of them so you can identify it, and then a pdf that you can click on that'll give you instructions again on how to use it, how to take care of it. You know, each individual mask is a little bit different."
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