SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ California has begun buying masks made for children as the state continues to adapt to life with the coronavirus.
The state has been sending masks to school districts since the start of the pandemic, and began purchasing child-sized masks last month based on feedback from the districts, said Governor's Office spokesman Brian Ferguson.
"They fit better," Ferguson said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom hasn't issued any statewide guidance on whether schools should reopen their buildings, saying just one approach doesn't work in a state with more than 1,000 districts serving more than 6 million children.
The Sacramento County Office of Education announced Wednesday that its 13 districts won't reopen classrooms this fall. The Los Angeles Unified School District is online for now, while the Orange County Board of Education is planning to hold classes without a mask requirement for students.
The state has issued guidance for how schools may safely reopen, but hasn't made a final recommendation on masks in schools. State Department of Education guidance says that if districts require students to wear masks, the districts must provide them.
The state has provided schools with about 90 million surgical masks, 384,000 N95 respirators and about 1.4 million face shields, along with other supplies, since the start of the pandemic, according to data Ferguson provided. The face shields allow students to see teachers' full faces when that is important, including language learning, he said.
The state Department of General Services has purchased 18.4 million child-sized masks from four suppliers since the start of June, according to state procurement data.
The no-bid purchases, which included some adult masks along with the child-sized ones, totaled about $43 million, according to the data.
Some of the supplies are for children at state-sponsored preschools, Ferguson said.
