LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Remember when the federal government promised the American people free N95 masks? Well, turns out a lot of people are still waiting for them.
We received an email from THV11 Verify viewer, Lloyd that read: “Checking to see what happened because the Walgreens on University in Little Rock has a sign posted that they are still waiting on the masks.”
This question falls in line with an inquiry that plenty of other people have been asking, “Has free government mask distribution stopped?”
It was January 18th when the Biden Administration made the announcement that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) would be making more than 400 million N95 masks available to Americans for free.
The shipment of masks began on January 20th and they were made available at thousands of retail pharmacies and community health centers.
On ASPR’s website, we found Walgreens included in the more than dozen participating retail partners.
We reached out to Walgreens, with the spokesperson replying: “We were pleased to partner with the Administration to make N95 masks available free of charge at participating Walgreens locations while supplies lasted. The free masks were distributed to select Walgreens stores nationwide, including several in Arkansas. Our Walgreens at 3710 S. University Ave., in Little Rock, was not included in that group. However, for customers looking for masks, our website updates with the latest available store inventory information frequently throughout the day. Additionally, Walgreens Same Day Delivery and Pickup provide contactless options for receiving products.”
When we visited Walgreens’ website, we found a list of the first wave of participating locations offering free N95 masks.
Filling out that list are 24 Arkansas locations. Out of those 24, Little Rock is not listed.
So for THV11 viewer Lloyd, the closest two Walgreens locations to University Ave. would be McCain Blvd in North Little Rock and W. 28th Ave. in Pine Bluff.
When we spoke with a representative of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, they shared that they have paused shipments at larger locations.
“We have paused N95 shipments with all the big pharmacy chains like Walgreens,” they said.
As for when distribution will resume-- we're still waiting to hear back about that.
So we can Verify-- No, mask distribution has not stopped, it’s just been paused at big pharmacy chains.
We checked in with a few other Arkansas locations and some of them do still have free masks available to the public.
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