Everything You Need To Know About Wearing A Face Mask

Wearing face-masks is the new normal, but how much do we really know about them?

Why should we wear masks?

When you wear a face mask it creates a barrier to help prevent respiratory droplets from travelling into the air. This means when the person wearing them coughs, sneezes, talks, or raises their voice it will transfer less respiratory droplets onto other people who could then inhale them. The most important thing to remember is that when social distancing is hard or not an option, face masks are your next best bet.

It’s more to protect others than yourself, so to help stop the spread of the virus it’s vital that you wear one.

Can you re-use your face mask?

Not all masks are re-useable, for example, the most commonly seen blue surgical masks are disposable masks i.e they are meant to be used only once.

Considering how often we will have to wear masks now, that doesn’t seem like a very viable or sustainable option. However, there are some great re-usable masks that have hit the market but in order for them to be effective, they need to be cleaned and stored carefully.

How do I maintain my re-useable cloth mask?

1. You should clean your mask after every wearing. This reduces the risk of spreading the coronavirus or other germs. To wash your mask, you can toss it in with your regular laundry or can even hand wash it with hot and soapy water.

2. Try avoiding touching your mask, always use the ear loops to take off your mask, if there are virus particles they are likely to be in the centre of the mask.

Where can I store my mask?

Masks should not be stored in pockets or handbags for later use, we need to remember that unlike other things we carry with ourselves, the contamination on your facemask has to be prevented from spreading. If you need to store your face mask, carefully fold the mask so the contaminated outside is folded inward and against itself and place it in a clean or new paper bag.

Stay informed and stay safe everybody.