Wellesley Health Officials Warn Of Cloth Masks, Distribute N95s

WELLESLEY, MA— The Wellesley Heath Department is warning residents about cloth masks due to a lack of protection against COVID-19 and has launched an outreach campaign to distribute surgical masks to local businesses.

The town will focus on distributing masks to permitted food operators first, followed by local merchants and other businesses.

"For masking options, we are discouraging the use of cloth facemasks, as they offer very little to no protection," Vivian Zeng, senior environmental health specialist at the Wellesley Health Department said in a statement, according to the Charles River Regional Chamber.

"Surgical face masks offer more protection, and N95 or KN95 masks provide the most protection,” she continued.

The town is asking businesses to post new signs at their entrances to encourage proper mask wearing when customers and employees are not actively eating or drinking.

The surgical mask outreach campaign is being funded by a grant from the Community Fund for Wellesley.