City of Milwaukee gives away half a million N95 masks in 48 hours, more on the way

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Five-hundred thousand N95 masks were distributed in 48 hours according to Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson, speaking about the city's mask giveaway program Tuesday, Jan. 11.

Health officials are still urging people to get ahold of N95 masks to fight the more infectious omicron variant, even though the free ones are gone for now.

Acting Mayor Johnson said they had given out 400,000 masks by Tuesday morning, and now they've given out all of the 500,000 masks given to them by the state at their testing sites, libraries and other locations.

He said they're expecting to get more masks Wednesday.

"We're actively working with the state to secure additional masks as we speak. That's our goal, is to bring in more masks from the state. Hopefully we'll be able to resume mask distribution by Thursday," said Acting Mayor Johnson.

He said a simple mask mandate isn't enough, he said he could be supportive of proposals for one if it also comes with a push for vaccination.