WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The Mask the City initiative kicked off Friday in Winston-Salem. It's an effort by city leaders to not only encourage folks to wear masks but to provide all citizens with masks to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The masks went on sale first at Lowe's Foods, Friday morning. People were in line to get the masks before the store opened at 7 am. Despite a limit of 4 masks per person, the 3 participating branches ran out before 8 am.
"When I got there about 6:50 [a.m.] the line was already 400 and 500 yards long and I got the last two masks," said Rolan Callicutt of Kernersville. An almost unlucky Callicutt, who thought he was an early bird, has had a hard time finding protective supplies recently.
"It's almost impossible to find anything no rubbing alcohol no thermometers no hand sanitizer I never really looked diligently," he said.
Organizers made more masks available at Forsyth Seafood Market and Cafe, Friday afternoon. A long line with people standing 6 feet apart formed around the parking lot but also sold out within an hour.
"Today we brought 11 boxes of 96 each so we should have enough to serve the communities here and get started," said Don Flow, Mask The City.
Mask the City plans to distribute 330,000 masks to communities within the next two weeks.
The protective masks are made by Mount Airy-based sock maker Renfro Corporation.
City leaders hope to help people who don't have protective masks get access to them. Along with the city-wide wearing of protective masks, they are encouraging the continued practice of social distancing for the 40 days until May 31.
