City-owned gift shop stocks their shelves with facemasks

Ordinarily, it is not the policy of the City of St. Augustine to compete with privately owned businesses; however, “these are not ordinary times”.  As part of the City of St. Augustine’s effort to provide facial masks for purchase by local businesses, residents, and visitors, the purchasing department began ordering masks online.

Using the buying power of the City and its access to preferred sources, 20,000 masks have been delivered to the Visitor Information Center for sale this week.  There is no restriction on how many boxes may be purchased.  Previously, public purchases from city inventory were limited to two boxes. Each box of masks contains 50 individual masks. 

“When this mask initiative started, during the preliminary stages of the Coronavirus outbreak, mask resources were still somewhat scarce.  We wanted to be able to provide an affordable option to businesses when they were re-opening,” City Manager John Regan remarked.  “Now, with the businesses being open and increased numbers of people visiting, out and about, we want to be sure there is inventory to support that.”

General Services Department Deputy Director, Timothy W. Fleming, told Historic City News local reporters that as of May 2020, the city has distributed more than 135,000 individual masks.

On investigation, however, we found that the City was buying these masks in a “spot market” and paying a wide range of prices beginning at about 33-cents each to as much as over $1.00 per mask.   Of further concern, we verified that the overwhelming volume of masks was being handled and shipped from Shanghai China, in close proximity to the first viral outbreaks of COVID-19.