IT’S MASKS for everyone in Lawrence County.

Mayor Mitch Whitmire told the coronavirus task force in Lawrence County last month that Smithville’s population was small enough that he was going to buy a mask for every resident in town.

“I got the idea from there to equip every person in Lawrence County,” County Judge John Thomison said.

Nine positive covid-19 cases and one death have been reported in Lawrence County, a mostly rural area in northeast Arkansas with a population of 16,525, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Thomison said Friday that by this weekend he expected to receive a shipment of enough masks to equip every single person within the county. The first shipment of 6,500 surgical masks arrived Thursday and was given to Walnut Ridge, the largest city in the county.

“Our thought process was that this was an enemy we couldn’t physically fight,” Thomison said. “We decided to proactively protect our rural population and use our natural social distancing, as well.”

Walnut Ridge Mayor Charles Snapp said Whitmire has military experience in chemical warfare and when he mentioned the masks everybody listened.

“We started to notice back in March people were wearing masks, and Whitmire mentioned if this was a military operation his men would already be equipped with masks,” Snapp said. “That is when things started getting set in motion.”

Thomison said by March 24 mayors of all 13 towns in the county had placed an order with China for the masks.

“We are in a unique situation where our county is small enough that we could make this happen, and that we got our order in early enough,” he said.

The surgical masks aren’t N95 masks, the highly sought after masks that many cities across the nation are searching for to protect their medical workers, but the surgical masks can last for a week or longer if they aren’t used often.

Snapp said Lawrence County ordered enough masks to equip every resident, plus an additional 500. He said the masks were 35 cents each, plus shipping and handling costs.

“As you can imagine, figuring out the logistics of distributing 6,500 masks isn’t easy,” Snapp said.

Officials in Walnut Ridge decided that the best way was to mail the masks to all residential water meter addresses. The package will include an instruction sheet and a census card along with three masks.

“It actually costs more for us to package, print and mail the masks than it was to buy them,” he said. “The census form sort of helps us justify it. Residents can help us for the next 10 years by filling out the form while we help them now.”

Snapp said the goal for him was to get enough residents wearing masks that it doesn’t seem odd anymore.

“If you are the only person wearing a mask, then people might think you are sick or robbing a store. You are going to get some odd looks,” Snapp said. “Hopefully, with this, we have enough people wearing masks that it just becomes commonplace.”

Thomison said each city will come up with its own plan to distribute the masks. He said the county also will use its rural fire districts to get masks out to residents who live outside cities.

The county judge thanked the county’s Office of Emergency Management, local mayors and county officials for making it possible.

“I am also appreciative of our population for allowing us to do this,” Thomison said. “This doesn’t work if everybody isn’t on board.”