The Washtenaw County Office of Community and Economic Development is distributing 10,000 free masks to residents. It's a part of a state program that gives free masks and other personal protective equipment to community action agencies.
The masks are intended for low-income people, seniors, and other vulnerable populations impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Morghan Williams is the human services manager for the Washtenaw County office.
She says the county wants to make sure that all residents have masks.
"It’s for low-income individuals and elderly populations, though we do know that masks are an accessibility issue, period, so while it’s prioritized for those, we will do our best not to turn people away," Williams says.
She says they were overwhelmed by the amount of support they received from the community, and had a wide variety of organizations reaching out to distribute masks.
"So we did our best to try and capture all areas of the county, though, acknowledging that folks are kind of self-signing up for these. So there are about 27 hubs across the county that have decided to be a mask distribution site."
Williams says masks are going to be really important for preventing and slowing the spread of COVID-19 as the weather gets colder and people spend more time indoors.
Among the distribution sites are senior centers, homeless shelters, and health clinics.
Mask distribution sites for Ann Arbor can be found here, for Ypsilanti can be found here, and for other locations around Washtenaw County are available here.
