The state provided public and private schools across Colorado with more than 1 million medical-grade face masks, officials said Thursday.

Schools throughout the state have opened, with a variety of methods employed from  in-person and hybrid classes to remote and online learning. But no matter what blend of teaching schools opted into, districts received a stock of  masks for teachers.

“I’ve visited schools across Colorado and have heard from teachers, superintendents, and educators about how they believe mask-wearing is important to keep themselves and students safe and to ensure we can overcome the challenges created by this virus together,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a state news release. 

The state entered its seventh of 10 weeks of distributing masks to teachers as of Monday. But schools that serve half of Colorado’s K-12 students have opted to keep students home for the start of the school year and tens of thousands of families choose remote learning.

That’s why schools that don’t use the masks initially are allowed to keep and store them until needed.

Colorado instituted a mask mandate in July, since then Colorado’s COVID-19 cases declined with the state positivity rate dipping below 3%.

The milestone of distributing 1,112,000 masks to teachers also syncs up with the announcement that the mask mandate will be extended for another 30 days from Sept. 13 and is set to end Oct. 12.