Palm Beach County will mail every household two reusable masks to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, Mayor Dave Kerner announced Friday afternoon.
The county has a high concentration of seniors who need to be protected, he said.
“There are people on the streets who are dying.”
Kerner said it was good public policy to order 1.5 million masks that can be washed and worn again. Two will be sent to all 660,000 households — about 1.3 million of the masks — and the remaining 200,000 will be put aside for people who ask for more or have a problem with the first delivery.
“The distribution is a challenge,” he said.
He doesn’t know when they arrive and when they will be mailed, but hoping it’s very quickly: “I’m pushing the pedal to the metal.” He said it will cost about $2.5 million.
“If the doctors say we need to load up on [personal protective equipment] then we’re going to get it to them as soon as possible.”
The move comes days after the county mandated masks be worn to help stop the spread of the potentially fatal COVID-19 and on the same day the state reported a staggering number of new cases overnight.
Cities across the county were gearing up to enforce the new law that requires masks be worn in public. Violators can be fined up to $250 for the first violation and $500 for each additional violation.
Earlier this week, protesters fought against the county’s plan to require masks, accusing commissioners of violating their freedoms and “obeying the devil’s laws.” But Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg addressed that Friday, saying your liberty ends where someone else’s begins. “Wearing a mask is intended to protect yourself [and] others from your own germs,” he said.
There is increased community spread because of the positivity rate of the total people tested, said Dr. Alina Alonso of the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County said Friday. “It’s not just more testing.”
Death rates are down, she said, because younger people are getting sick and generally don’t need to be hospitalized.
But two teenagers have already died in Florida, Alonso said, and one of them died within days.
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