NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — As the state continues to wait on a delayed shipment of COVID-19 test kits, one thing they don’t have to wait on is masks. The National Guard on Thursday mobilized N95 masks for distribution to cities and towns.
Boxes of PPE including masks, sanitizers, gloves, gowns were all stockpiled floor to ceiling inside the state’s emergency operations commodity warehouse in New Britain. The stockpile is a contingency plan of sorts, and based on the rapid spread of the Omicron variant — the state is dipping into it.
But when it comes to the test kits, cities and towns are in a holding pattern.
“Today, we were planning on receiving the test kits,” said Robert McCue, the Deputy Director of Emergency Management for West Hartford.
That arrival never happened. The Lamont administration said it is due to shipping and warehouse issues beyond their control.
RELATED: Hartford hands out thousands of COVID-19 testing kits as other cities and towns faced with delays
“We actually hoped that the plane would arrive overnight in which case we still could have made our distribution but as of this morning we learned that the plane hasn’t left the west coast,” Mayor Mike Walsh of East Hartford said.
So instead, the state quickly shifted its focus to distributing masks, although one pallet of the test kits did arrive at the last minute and was loaded up by state guardsmen.
“Our role here is to take what we receive and distribute it out to the municipalities and school districts accordingly,” explained Lt. Steven Tucker of the Connecticut National Guard.
But it’s those N95 masks that were once reserved for medical professionals that the state hopes will be the extra protection needed to help tamp down the surge.
“Today we are receiving what will ultimately be 6-million 95 masks and 3-million at test kits for COVID-19 in response to the rising number of cases that we are seeing throughout the state and the nation,” said Lt. Tucker.
From the warehouse, the National Guard takes those masks to five distribution sites for pick up by cities and towns who will then formulate plans for distributing them to residents.
Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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