First Shipment Of 100,000 N95 Masks Arrives In LA For Frontline Workers

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) -- The first shipment of 100,000 N95 masks ordered by the city of Los Angeles has arrived.

The masks, which are part of an order of 24 million masks, will be given to healthcare workers and first responders.

"The city has incredible purchasing power, so we put that to use by buying in bulk at a low price point," said Mayor Eric Garcetti. "We were able to secure inventory...for our hospitals that might not have had the connections we had, and they were struggling, when all the people who usually sell to them suddenly were being pulled in a thousand directions."

The next shipment, which will arrive in June, is expected to include 200,000 more masks. The July shipment is supposed to contain 500,000. By December shipments could include as many as 1.2 million masks, Garcetti said.

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The city was able to purchase the masks through the Logistics Victory L.A. initiative (LoVLA). The masks were purchased for 79 cents each plus tax.

Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka, who is assisting the city with the shipments through the port's supply chain partners, said the first shipment of masks is a "significant milestone" toward providing adequate PPE to frontline workers.

"We're starting to build that Los Angeles stockpile that we've talked about before," Seroka said. "Working closely with the Hospital Association of Southern California and so many of our great public and private hospitals here in the Southland, the city of Los Angeles, specifically, now will be put to the next test to see how well" the masks can be distributed.

(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)