WILMINGTON, Del.- Gov. John Carney, Lt. Gov. Hall-Long and the Delaware Department of Education on Tuesday announced a one-time distribution of 125,000 KN95 masks to educators, students grades six and above, and childcare providers across the state. Masks will be distributed to Delaware’s public, private, and parochial schools and childcare providers through school and childcare liaisons.
“There is nothing more important than making sure our children can remain learning in the classrooms,” said Carney. “We have learned the importance of multi-layer masks and masks that fit snugly on your face. We hope that this mask distribution will help students and educators continue to slow the surge of COVID-19 as they have throughout the pandemic. Parents, families and teachers should expect more guidance from their schools about when they can pick-up their masks.”
Districts, charter schools, private schools, and child care facilities will receive KN95 masks from the state to support their in-person instruction efforts. Schools and child care facilities will make the KN95 masks available to staff members as needed or requested. Officials said this effort will add to the many mitigation strategies districts, schools, and child care providers have implemented to create safer learning environments, decrease the number of quarantines and offer as many days of in-person instruction as possible. The masks will be distributed based on the number of staff across all schools and number of students in sixth grade and up due to the size of the masks.
Child care providers will need to pre-register through a link that will be sent from the Delaware Department of Education. If you do not receive the email with the registration link by the close of business on Wednesday, January 19, you can email mask.distribution@doe.k12.de.us to be assisted with the registration.
This announcement comes days after Carney signed a universal indoor mask mandate and extended the school mask requirement.