Chenango County has received 42,950 disposable KN95 masks from the state. The masks will be distributed to schools, businesses, and organizations countywide. (Photo by Sarah Genter)

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."