Mayor Durkan launches ‘Seattle Protects,’ a marketplace for face coverings

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced the launch of “Seattle Protects,” an online marketplace to connect local manufacturers with organizations, businesses, nonprofits, community groups, and individuals in need of cloth face coverings.

This is a public health effort by the city of Seattle to encourage local organizations in search of face coverings to purchase from local manufacturers and businesses.

Trio of Washington counties issue directive for wearing masks in public

Public Health — Seattle & King County issued a health directive encouraging all residents to wear cloth face coverings in indoor, public settings and locations where it may be difficult to remain six feet away from others.

This directive took effect on Monday, May 18. It is not enforced by law, but individuals businesses do have the right to require customers to wear a face covering.

“Wearing cloth face coverings is part of the new normal, and it’s up to all of us to protect the health and safety of our communities,” Durkan said in a release. “At the City, we’ve heard from many business owners who are searching to buy both small and large quantities of face coverings. And we’ve also heard from our midsize manufacturers, who are the backbone of Seattle’s economy, that many of them are changing their output to better serve the needs of their customers during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Durkan hopes to have Seattle Protects bridge that gap.

“Thank you to our local manufacturers who are putting community first and responding to the COVID crisis by shifting their operations to make face masks. We appreciate your efforts to protect our most vulnerable community members,” said Councilmember Andrew J. Lewis.

Local manufacturers interested in joining Seattle Protects can fill out an application, and must be making masks in accordance with certain specifications and health and safety best practices as developed by Kaiser Permanente, Unity Point Health, and Made @ Generate.

Those interested in purchasing face coverings for their workforce can explore all manufacturers on Seattle Protects to find available gear that can meet the needs of their business.

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Seattle Protects vendors are committed to sell face coverings at a bulk price between $5.00 to $7.00 per face covering. There will also be individual face coverings sold at market price.

“Community and technology are part of Seattle’s society. We’re proud to continue to foster these connections through this project,” said Saad Bashir, Chief Technology Officer for the City of Seattle.

Seattle is providing over 45,000 free cloth face coverings to community-based organizations that serve immigrants and refugees, older adults, people with disabilities, and people experiencing homelessness, and will distribute masks to food banks and meal providers.

Pierce County announced Wednesday it will provide free personal protective equipment to county businesses to help them comply with safety practices and protect employees and customers. To receive PPE, businesses must fill out a request form online here.

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