Mass mask distribution begins across NorCal school districts

The Sacramento City Unified School District on Monday began distributing N95 and KF94 masks to its older students across 27 middle and high schools.Denisse Lambert, principal at Met Sacramento High School, said each student will get five masks, which are currently being bagged for them. Lambert said the school also urges COVID-19 testing to all students.Some of the masks being distributed come from the pile of more than 23 million masks given to county education offices across the state as part of the effort by the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to make higher quality masks available at schools.While distribution has begun, actually receiving the masks may take a while due to ongoing staffing shortages, according to the school district.Sac City Unified has broken its distribution into two phases, the first being for middle through high schools and the second for K-6th-grade students.Distribution has not yet begun for that second phase, and a date has not yet been released. At Washington Elementary, Principal Gema Godina has face masks for staff and students available.”The majority of our students bring their own masks, so it’s more for the students whose parents specifically want them to use it or they forget a mask,” Godina said.Meanwhile, the Yolo County Office of Education received nearly 169,000 face masks for their school districts, which include public, private, parochial and charter schools.And they’re also adding testing to their distribution list.”We also received 1,000 kits from the county, that we’re going to be providing to districts so that they can go ahead and reduce their isolation to five days,” said Anthony Volkar with the Yolo County Office of Education.KCRA reached out to districts in surrounding counties that are also distributing masks to students. Some have said they’re requesting youth-sized masks because the one-size does not fit younger children.Lodi Unified School District100,000 N95 masksOrdering masks for studentsWoodland Unified School DistrictDistributed N95 and KN95 masks to schoolsWill be used on a voluntary basis by staff and studentsManteca Unified School District79,860 N95 masksGrades 3-12 will be receiving themSeeking youth-size N95 masksTracy Unified School District40,000 N95 masksLincoln Unified School District52,800 N95 masksKN95 masks for adults and childrenN95 masks are one-size