HARTFORD, Conn. (WCBS 880) -- Looking for some cloth masks? Connecticut has plenty and they'd love for you to have some.
The state got a gift of 2 million of the reusable masks from the feds via Hanes, the clothing company, and though much of that was used, over 200,000 remain in a New Britain warehouse, according to the Hartford Courant.
The large quantity comes in the form of over 40,000 five-mask packs.
The PPE, once in high demand, is no longer hard to find, and Hanesbrands Inc. announced earlier this year that it is moving away from that business as the vaccine rollout continued and demand dropped.
In an attempt to get rid of the masks, the large quantity was put up for sale on publicsurplus.com, but no legitimate offers came down the line.
“Using our unified command structure, we reached out to everybody — we asked municipalities, fire departments, police departments,” Gov. Ned Lamont’s Communications Director Max Reiss said to the Courant. “And the consensus was everybody had masks, and they didn’t want them.”
Reiss said the state offered to return the masks to FEMA, where they originally came from, but they declined.
The masks were provided by FEMA, according to the report, but the funding and procuring actually came from the Department of Health and Human Services.
But Republican state Sen. Heather Somers told the Courant that she could easily find places in the state that would take the masks. Reiss said Somers is welcome to direct them to the massive mask pile.
Masks are still required to be worn by everyone in Connecticut healthcare facilities, places housing vulnerable populations, public and private transit, correctional facilities, schools and childcare.