County To Distribute Free Face Masks At 4 Sites

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL — Beginning at noon Wednesday, Hillsborough County will begin distributing free, reusable cloth face coverings to residents at four county locations.

The distribution locations are:

• E.G. Simmons Park, 2401 19th Ave. NW in Ruskin
• Upper Tampa Bay Park, 8001 Double Branch Road in Tampa
• Lake Park, 17302 N. Dale Mabry Highway in Lutz
• Lithia Springs Park, 3932 Lithia Springs Road in Lithia

The sites will be open as supplies last:

• Wednesday, June 24 from noon to 5 p.m.
• Thursday, June 25 and Friday, June 26 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Saturday, June 27 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Monday, June 29 through Thursday, July 2 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Each person in the vehicle will receive two face coverings. Drivers may also request face coverings for immediate family members not present.

Hillsborough County’s Office of Emergency Management has ordered two million cloth face coverings from the state of Florida for public distribution. Already, Emergency Management has issued approximately 950,000 of the reusable coverings to the municipalities, HART, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and other public agencies, the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital and nonprofit and charitable organizations, to assist in distributing to residents.

To further protect the public against the spread of the coronavirus, Hillsborough County’s Emergency Policy Group this week enacted an order requiring that face coverings be worn inside businesses that are open to the public, with certain exceptions. The order applies to all people, including customers and employees, inside Hillsborough County businesses that are open to the public when social distancing cannot be maintained. The city of Tampa has a separate order.

More information will be available soon on how businesses can request a quantity of the free cloth coverings.

Graphic courtesy City of Tampa

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