CHENANGO COUNTY — Through the efforts of several state departments, every county in New York State began receiving disposable masks last week to be distributed to local schools, businesses, and organizations.

"We've been tasked with distributing them into the communities," said Chenango County Emergency Management Director and Fire Bureau Coordinator Matthew Beckwith. "A lot of this comes out of the Executive Chamber, so it comes out of the Governor's Office, and then it's passed down through the Department of Homeland Security, and then it's mobilized and sent out to all of the counties through DOT resources."

Chenango County received 42,950 masks from the state, which will be sent to the County Office Building, Catholic Charities, food banks, the Norwich Family YMCA, County Transit, DCMO BOCES, school districts, the Area Agency on Aging, and more.

"We have distributed already to places like the County Office Building, we've sent some to some of the several food banks that operate within the county, Catholic Charities is going to get some, YMCA is getting some, County Transit is getting some," said Beckwith. "We have about 24,600 masks that we’re going to distribute tomorrow into the towns and the villages where the supervisors and the mayors can redistribute those to local businesses, or keep them at their town halls to hand out to the general public and et cetera. So the focus of this is to get it out into the communities."

He said the disposable KN95 masks were received on Wednesday, December 22, and distribution began the following day.

"They are one-time disposable masks. They're what they call KN95 masks. They're a little bit higher grade than the surgical masks are, but again they're a one-time use ... So they're not cloth masks that you can wash and reuse," Beckwith explained. "We got them Wednesday, late Wednesday afternoon. We started mobilizing everybody Thursday."

The masks are an effort by the state to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Beckwith said cases increased after Thanksgiving, and another spike is expected in the wake of Christmas.

"It's a result of the increased COVID numbers statewide. So this is an effort to try to combat it, try to keep everybody safe, especially through the holiday season," he said. "We saw a significant spike after Thanksgiving, we're anticipating another spike after Christmas. Hopefully not, but we're still anticipating to see some rise in the COVID numbers. So hopefully this will help combat it, and hopefully it won't be so bad."

Additionally, Beckwith said the Chenango County Bureau of Fire and Emergency Management is working closely with the Chenango County Department of Health to encourage other measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

"We're working with the Health Department. I talked with Mark Flindt, the Public Health Director, today again [about] further messaging about hand washing, social distancing, wearing masks. If you're not vaccinated, please get vaccinated. It's not going to prevent you from getting COVID 100 percent, but if you are exposed to COVID and you are vaccinated, and your boosters are up, you'll have a much less effect from the COVID variant than you would be if you were unvaccinated," Beckwith explained.

The Chenango County Department of Health is also asking residents using at-home COVID test kits to report any positive results to the department, according to Beckwith.

"The Health Department is encouraging that if you do test positive using that home test kit, we're asking you to please notify the Health Department so they can put you on quarantine and isolation," he said. "What we're finding is people are taking the home test kits, they're testing positive, and they're on quarantine from work. They need to have, in order for them to go back to work, they need to have the release papers, and if they don't have a public health order releasing them, then it runs into an employment issue further down the road."

"A lot of places are requiring that release, and if the Health Department does not know that you've tested positive, and they can't track it, they can't issue the reinstatement orders to let you go back to work," he continued.

Chenango County may also be receiving a shipment of at-home test kits from the state, but further information was not available by press time.

Beckwith commended the Chenango County Department of Health for their efforts in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic, and reminded residents to follow proper precautions to keep themselves safe.

"We've been very fortunate in the efforts that the Public Health Department has been doing, and we're able to keep a lot of those folks out of the hospitals so the hospitals aren't overrun," Beckwith said. "We're fortunate in our area, I think we're doing a good job. We're not as impacted as a lot of the bigger cities are. But again, we just need to be diligent in making sure that our hands are washed, and we're wearing masks when we should be wearing masks. And, you know, if people are vaccinated, make sure they're up on their boosters and they've got all that. All in all, everybody will be much healthier, that's for sure."