JEFFERSON CITY - Cole County began mailing out COVID-19 supply boxes to residents this week.
Each box has hand sanitizer, 50 surgical masks and information on how to deal with COVID-19. Over 35,000 boxes will be sent to residents throughout the county.
Sam Bushman, presiding commissioner for Cole County, said the kits should all be mailed throughout next week.
“I'd like to think they'll all be delivered by late next week. Then if the following week, if you don't have them, you know, stop by the Health Department, and we'll give you a box,” Bushman said. “One way or another, if you want these, and you’re a citizen of Cole County, we will take care of you.”
Every household in the county should receive one.
Cole County spent $318,255 in CARES Act funding for the materials.
Cornell Sudduth, a Cole County resident, said the money was well spent to help the community.
“You can't put a price on good health, and so, yeah, it's money well spent, I believe,” Sudduth said. “Hopefully, everyone that gets it will actually use it.”
Bushman also said if residents don’t need the supplies, the county will gladly take them back and redistribute them.
“So anybody who doesn't want this box, drop it off at the Health Department. We will keep them because we can give these masks to the hospitals, we can give them to some of our Boys and Girls Clubs,” Bushman said.
Cole County officials said the supply boxes were delayed a month to the end of January because the manufacturers who supplied the boxes had an outbreak of the virus.