STATE, CBIA LAUNCHING PROTECTIVE MASK GIVEAWAY
The state’s largest business organization and Gov. Ned Lamont’s office are teaming up to make protective masks available to small businesses around the state to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The Connecticut Business & Industry Association announced details of the mask giveaway Tuesday. Limited quantities of masks will be available to businesses with 50 or fewer employees, CBIA officials said in a statement.
Each employee will be given two protective masks. The masks will be distributed by officials of the community where the business is based.
Joe Budd, a CBIA spokesman, said Tuesday that the masks were provided by an anonymous group of donors. To obtain an allotment of masks, small businesses must sign up online, he said.
“They are surgical masks,” Budd said. A total of 500,000 masks were donated and, by the close of business Tuesday, CBIA’s business consulting affiliate, Connstep, had fielded requests for masks from 6,100 businesses.
Each mask can be used for up to a week, Budd said.
Communities around the state have been notifying small businesses of the availability of the masks, even if it may be several weeks before they are avilable for distribution. Arnett Talbot, Cheshire’s public information officer, said business owners have expressed some concern about having enough masks for employees when the Lamont administration allows businesses to begin reopening.
“There has been some fear they won’t be able to get what they need,” Talbot said.