Two days after the Biden administration launched the program on Jan. 19, large retailers such as Hy-Vee, Walmart, and Meijer made the N95 masks available online, according to Jeffrey Zients, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, at a Jan. 26 teleconference.

"Americans will be able to pick up free masks, as I said earlier, at tens of thousands of convenient sites, including, as you mentioned, community health centers around the country and local pharmacies," Zients said, adding that the program will hit full strength "across the next couple of weeks."

The announcement came after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated masking recommendations by encouraging Americans to wear medical-grade N95 or KN95 masks previously prioritized for health care workers due to supply shortages.

"Loosely woven cloth products provide the least protection, layered finely woven products offer more protection, well-fitting disposable surgical masks and KN95s offer even more protection, and well-fitting NIOSH-approved respirators (including N95s) offer the highest level of protection," the CDC stated on its website.

Following President Joe Biden's mask announcement, small U.S. mask-makers reported a 70 to 80 percent decline in N95 sales, the American Mask Manufacturer's Association (AMMA) told The Hill on Jan. 26.