People leave with supplies outside a Home Depot store in Miami, Florida, as they prepare for Hurricane Irma, on Sept. 7, 2017. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

Home Depot Stops Selling N95 Masks, Will Donate Supplies to Hospitals

Store limits hours, number of people outside amid the CCP virus pandemic

Home Depot said it will no longer sell respirator masks to the general public and will donate them to hospitals instead amid the CCP virus pandemic, the company said Wednesday.

“As our communities battle COVID-19, The Home Depot is committed to providing the essential needs required to maintain homes and businesses while doing our best to protect our valued customers and associates,” Craig Menear, the Home Depot chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus.

The firm said it also implemented a “stop sale” on all N95 masks and will donate them to hospitals and various healthcare providers. N95 masks have been in hot demand worldwide after the virus emerged in China before CCP mismanagement and a cover-up allow it to spread to more than 200 countries around the world.

Home Depot will also close early at 6 p.m. local time to allow for restocking and sanitization efforts. It will also limit the number of customers in a store at any given time, according to the news release.

The chain will also promote “social and physical distancing practices in stores by marking floors and adding signage to help customers and associates maintain safe distances,” according to a press release. Major spring promotions will also be suspended to avoid large crowds of shoppers in a given store.

The release said Home Depot will also be “limiting services and installations to those that are essential for maintenance and repair needs in impacted markets.”

Amid the pandemic, the chain said it will also provide a number of benefits to employees, including more time off and double pay for overtime hours. It also added “80 hours of paid time off for all full-time hourly associates and 40 hours of paid time off for part-time hourly associates to be used at their discretion at any time in 2020 and paid out at year-end if not used,” according to the release.