People living in Rochester will be sent masks by the city as a way to keep the community healthy and encourage people to stay safe.

The nearly 480,000 protective masks are being mailed out to 96,000 homes in the city of Rochester starting next week. Five masks will be sent to each household.

Monroe County provided the masks to the city from its stockpile. The city will reserve 20,000 additional masks for businesses, apartment buildings, and churches as needed.

“Protecting our residents is always my top priority. These masks will allow our residents to keep themselves safe, protect their circle and our entire community,” said Mayor Lovely Warren in an emailed statement. “I urge everyone to continue to do the right thing and follow the guidance of our public health professionals. We can and will recover together from this crisis.”

When the masks are sent out, information will be included directing people to community resources for those in need, as well as information on filling out the 2020 Census.

Warren said the decision to distribute the masks by mail was done out of concern for the safety of both citizens and city workers.

“We have a significant population that are disabled or don’t have access to transportation,” she said Friday. “We also have a number of our citizens, of course, are senior citizens, and we want to make sure that during this time, they remain safe and that they basically remain home. And we also have a situation where we didn’t want to expose employees trying to distribute the mass quantity of masks to possibly 280,000 residents.”

The total cost of the mailing, including postage, The mailings will cost a total of $168,754 or approximately $1.75 per piece – including postage.