Dear Sacramento City Unified School District Families,

We are excited to inform you that despite a nationwide shortage of N95 and KF94 masks, which the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has recognized as the most effective mask types for preventing the spread of COVID-19, we will be providing these masks to every student and staff member in our school district.

Offering the highest quality of protection to prevent the spread of the highly infectious omicron variant is not being taken on by every school district but this work helps to keep our schools as safe as possible, in conjunction with take-home test distribution, surveillance testing, testing centers, vaccination clinics and other services that we are providing. 

Typical N95 masks fit children of middle school age and older, while the KF94 masks best fit younger children. N95 masks are said to filter out 95% of aerosol particles while KF94 masks are said to filter out 94% of aerosol particles. Learn how to properly wear these masks by watching this video. 

As we will be receiving our shipments of N95 and KF94 masks separately and on different dates, we will have a two-phase rollout of getting masks sent home with your student. 

PHASE 1

By January 28th if not sooner, all of our middle and high school students (including our K-8 7th and 8th graders) will receive a 5-pack of N95 masks.

PHASE 2

By February 4th if not sooner, the remainder of N95 and KF94 masks will be distributed in 5-packs to the rest of our students. Please note that the Phase 2 timeline will depend on actual delivery of masks to sites—we should be receiving the shipment early next week and are hoping for no shipping delays.

On January 19th, the Biden administration announced that 400 million N95 masks will be made available for free to the public but did not announce whether the smaller mask size for children will be made available at this time. 

If you receive a mask and would like to switch to the smaller (KF94) or larger (N95) size, please let your school site know so that they can request an exchange through the school’s PPE ordering system. As supplies are limited and although these masks are the most effective for filtering aerosol particles, any mask is more effective than not wearing a covering over your face and mouth.

Your school site will be providing updates on the timing of mask distribution to your student.