(www.twitter.com/shandro)

By Chris Brown

Phase two in July

Alberta ends phase one of drive-thru mask distribution

Jun 22, 2020 | 2:15 PM

More than 14 million non-medical face masks were handed out during the first phase of Alberta’s drive-thru distribution program.

The government announced Monday that no more masks will be handed out at A&W, McDonald’s Canada, and Tim Hortons drive-thrus until phase two in July.

“Thank you to all our partners for helping our government distribute millions of non-medical masks to every corner of Alberta. No other province in Canada has accomplished such a feat,” said health minister Tyler Shandro in a news release.” A program of this scale would not have been possible without your hard work and community support. We will continue to support Albertans as we move through stage two of relaunch, and people continue to get back to work.”

On top of the drive-thru program, six million masks have been or will be shared directly with municipalities, seniors organizations, Indigenous partners, places of worship and others.

According to the release, another 20 million masks will be handed out in July at drive-thrus and other means. Details will come in a few weeks.

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Anyone who did not get a mask can still get one by calling 211.

In addition to the masks shared via drive-thru windows, the Alberta government provided masks directly to:

• Edmonton Transit, Calgary Transit, and municipalities without convenient access to a drive-thru
• First Nations and Metis Settlements
• Seniors organizations and independent living facilities
• Long-term care and permanent supportive living facilities
• Women’s shelters, homeless shelters and street outreach programs
• Addiction treatment centres
• Foster and kinship parents
• Albertans who contacted 211 and couldn’t access a drive-thru partner or the alternate municipal or community providers

Quick facts about the mask distribution

• More than 20 million non-medical masks have or will soon be shared with Albertans.
• 14 million masks were shared through nearly 600 A&W, McDonald’s Canada, or Tim Hortons drive-thrus.
• About 95 per cent of Albertans live within 10 kilometres of the drive-thrus through which the masks were distributed.
• Mask use is not mandatory; they are an option for situations where maintaining a distance of two metres is not possible.
• Alberta 211 is a community service partner supporting the distribution of masks. Any concerns about the distribution of masks should be directed to the feedback form on alberta.ca/masks.
• Instructions for proper care and use of non-medical masks are available at alberta.ca/masks.