Anyone else following this?

Anyone doing woodwork or working with fiberglass may want to swing by their local Walgreens or CVS pharmacy and pick up 3 free N95 masks. They are now available. These are the same N95 masks often used to keep from breathing dust - 3M model 8210 masks. They are next to useless for stopping virus transmission, but who cares, they are great for stopping dust particles from getting sucked into your lungs.



For those that don’t know, N95 masks are good for 1-hr of use, or 8-hrs exposed to air, e.g. if you are wearing the same mask all day taking on and off for 1-hr total use. They are basically designed for single-use against dust and large biological critters like bacteria and mold. Most folks use them for longer than 1-hr, though they are rated for only 1-hr because they work off an electrostatic charge that is deplete with exposure to microscopic oil particles floating around. They are great for cleaning dusty areas, crawling around under the house, woodworking, sanding fiberglass, etc. Store your free N95 masks in HDPE bags, like Zip Loc kitchen food bags. They have a 5-year shelf life, but as I mentioned, only rated for 1-hour of actual use before the electrostatic charge is depleted.

The masks are also available from Costco’s in-store pharmacy and you do not need to be a member to go there. Fed law prohibits membership pharmacies, and Calif law prohibits membership-only alcohol sales. So, if you are not a Costco member you can go there and get you free N95 masks and buy other pharmacy crap and load up on alcohol. Hell, grab yourself a couple 36-packs of your favorite beer while you are there! Costco is the world’s largest wine retailer, great prices on that stuff, too. Need bourbon? ... who doesn't?!? Costco has that, too.


Hey, we are paying for them, might as well go pick ‘em up. Go early, go often, get as many as you can, they come as 3 masks together. There’s only 500-million (literally 500,000,000 masks) being given away, and when they are gone, they are gone.