Are you wearing your face masks the right way? Find out how long single-use and reusable masks should be worn too
So you have to wear a mask to help stop the spread of the new coronavirus? Wondering how to choose one? Or if it will slip off, or be suffocating? While masks are everyday accessories in parts of Asia, for those not accustomed to wearing them the experience can be unnerving, even daunting.
Here are some tips for the uninitiated:
Which mask?
Unless you are a frontline health worker, you do not need a high-spec respirator like the N95 or FFP2, experts say. Leave those for the professionals. When it comes to other types of masks, the advice has shifted with the understanding of the epidemic.
Initially, health authorities and the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was useless for the general population to wear masks in public.
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Now it is increasingly recommended as part of the public health toolbox, along with frequent handwashing and physical distancing. With medical personal protective equipment off the table, authorities have suggested people buy or make fabric face coverings. The WHO has expressed doubts that these will offer full protection for the wearer, but notes that they could stop an unknowingly infected person from passing the virus on to others.
This matters because a significant minority of people with Covid-19 do not have any symptoms at all. Those wanting to make their own masks have no shortage of tutorials online to turn to for inspiration. The website of the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has instructions for how to make a no-sew mask by cutting up a T-shirt.
Some countries have published manufacturing standards—even for homemade masks. In France, authorities recommend that they should be made from at least two layers of flexible and, importantly, breathable fabric. There should not be vertical seams where it fits the mouth, nose and chin to avoid leakage.
Masks produced for sale by textile manufacturers—following either a "duckbill" or "pleated" pattern—must filter between 70 per cent and 90 per cent of particles expelled by the wearer that are three microns in diameter. The average human hair is roughly 80 microns thick. Very young infants should not wear masks because of the risk of suffocation. Regulations as to the exact age threshold depend on the country.
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