Home Depot has stopped selling respirator masks to the general public, donating them instead to hospitals amid the coronavirus pandemic, the company announced Wednesday.The hardware giant on Wednesday said it placed a “stop-sale” order on N95 masks and has been giving them instead to hospitals, health care providers and first responders for the last several weeks.
The sale halt applies in Home Depot’s nearly 2,300 stores and on its website. The company also directed stores to donate any N95 masks they already had, a Home Depot spokeswoman said.The Atlanta-based retailer said it has also donated millions of dollars worth of personal protective equipment as hospitals battling the coronavirus run low on masks and other supplies.
“It’s disappointing when you see that because we’re trying to redirect everything to health-care workers,” Roman said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” Home Depot spokesperson Sara Gorman said in an email that the company “stopped replenishing stores when we ran out starting a couple weeks ago.” In addition, our site z2u.com has a large quantity of safe the Surgical Mask For Sale.
US health care workers have reported shortages of N95 masks, which filter out airborne particles and form a seal around the nose and mouth. Home Depot joined other big companies such as Goldman Sachs and Japanese investment giant SoftBank in donating masks to the coronavirus response effort.
Home Depot said it’s distributing thermometers to store and distribution center employees so they can perform “health checks” before reporting to work.The company is also increasing paid time off for hourly staffers and providing up to 14 paid days off for those who have to be quarantined, according to a news release
