Dane County Purchases Tens of Thousands of Masks to Help During Current COVID-19 Surge

January 19, 2022
Ariana Vruwink, 608-267-8823
County Executive

Dane County took delivery of close to 100,000 KN95 masks today that will be distributed across the community to help protect people against the current surge of Omicron COVID-19, County Executive Joe Parisi announced today.

Dane County purchased the masks, and the Departments of Emergency Management and Human Services will team with Public Health Madison & Dane County and other partner organizations to help get them to vulnerable populations in the coming days.

“With record high counts in our hospitals, it's imperative we do all we can to try and stunt the rapid spread of this variant,” Parisi said. “You don't have to have COVID to be affected by what’s happening in our hospitals right now. Those experiencing urgent medical conditions not even associated with COVID may very well end up waiting for care while overwhelmed doctors and nurses struggle to keep up with record patient loads brought about by the current COVID surge.”

Dane County COVID-19 hospitalizations and case counts all marked record highs this past week.

Parisi noted the tighter fitting KN95 masks are more effective against Omicron than the more common cloth masks, but not all families have a means of getting their own safer masks.

The masks will be handed out in a similar way to how the county distributed masks at the start of the pandemic in the summer of 2020. County agencies will work through community organizations at getting theses masks to families over the course of the next several days.