TOWSON, Md. — The Baltimore County Department of Health hit its goal to distribute 100,000 COVID-19 Safety Kits to county residents in order to help mitigate and slow the spread of the coronavirus in communities hardest hit by the pandemic.
Kits are provided to locations across Baltimore County, including PAL Centers, faith and community organizations, nonprofits, apartment complexes, food distribution sites and COVID-19 testing clinics.
“From the outset of this pandemic, our team at the Health Department has been working around the clock to protect the health and well-being of our residents,” Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski said. “I want to thank all our frontline staff for reaching these milestones.”
In addition, the Department’s COVID-19 Hotline has received over 20,000 inquiries and requests for assistance since the line opened in March of this year.
“Our African-American and Latinx communities are disproportionally affected by the pandemic,” said Baltimore County Health Officer Dr. Gregory Wm. Branch. “We’ve worked diligently to get safety kits into the communities hardest hit in order to provide safeguards and information that help to slow the spread of the virus. It is vitally important that efforts like this continue.”
The kits contain educational materials and personal protective items such as masks, gloves, hand sanitizer and paper soap. Launched in May, the initiative was expected to take until December to complete. However, the demand for items provided and the Department’s commitment to meeting the need resulted in reaching the goal months ahead of schedule.
