Wegmans offering free N95 masks at all stores

Wegmans is joining a slate of pharmacies and grocery retailers offering free N95 masks at all of its locations while supplies last.

The masks will be available at the supermarket chain's 106 stores throughout New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts and North Carolina. 

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Customers will be limed to three masks per person and the hours of distribution "will vary by store," the company announced Tuesday.    

The free masks are part of the Biden administration's effort last month to make 400 million masks available for free to U.S. residents, signifying the largest distribution of free masks by the federal government to the public since the COVID-19 pandemic began. 

FREE N95 MASKS: HOW AND WHERE TO GET THEM

The masks have already been distributed to stores including CVS, Walgreens, Kroger and Rite Aid, and are coming from the government’s Strategic National Stockpile, which has more than 750 million of the highly protective masks on hand.  

The masks were distributed to pharmacies, grocery retailers and community health centers around the nation after mounting criticism over the inaccessibility of the N95 masks amid the surge in omicron cases. N95 and KN95 masks offer the most protection against COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Currently, omicron and delta are both classified as "Variants of Concern" in the U.S., according to the CDC. However, omicron quickly became the dominant variant and now accounts for 99.9% of all new cases, according to CDC data. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.