Municipality of Anchorage to give out 160,000 cloth masks

The city of Anchorage is distributing 160,000 more masks to residents this week, the city’s Emergency Operations Center announced Tuesday afternoon.

Under Anchorage’s COVID-19 emergency orders, masks are mandatory inside indoor public spaces like stores, restaurants and public transportation as well as at outdoor gatherings or outdoor spaces when physical distancing can’t be maintained.

“We know that wearing a mask helps to stop the spread of COVID-19, and we thank our partners for helping us make face coverings broadly available to community," Bill Falsey, municipal manager and incident commander of the Anchorage’s emergency operations center, said in the release.

The masks being distributed this week are from the federal Department of Health and Human Services, according to the emergency operations center. The city has already distributed 44,500 masks to residents.

The 160,000 cloth masks are headed to the Alaska Literacy Project, Anchorage Community Councils, the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center, the Anchorage School District, Catholic Social Services, Lutheran Social Services of Alaska and the Salvation Army.

Masks will also be going to the Public Transportation Department for riders who don’t have masks, as well as to the city’s public libraries and the health department.

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