It’s Time To Make the Most of Masks. Here’s 8 Ways To Do It

Now, experts are worried that the arrival of more contagious variants of the virus,  will allow coronavirus to spread faster than ever.

Here are the top tips for mask-wearing in 2021:

1. Keep wearing your face mask.

Every time you’re near someone who you don’t live with, you should be wearing a mask – even outdoors, and even if your state or city doesn’t require it.

Make sure your mask goes over your mouth and nose, and that there aren’t gaps along the sides or at the top of your nose. If you wear glasses, tuck the mask under the bottoms of the lenses. Once you put a mask on, try to avoid touching it except when it's time to take it off.

2. Even after you get vaccinated for COVID, keep wearing your mask.

While current COVID vaccines have great efficacy, they are still not 100% effective. The first vaccines require two doses, several weeks apart, to take full effect. And even after your second dose your immune system needs a week or two to ramp up fully to fight the coronavirus if you get exposed.

Handle your cloth mask carefully as you take it off, put it directly in a laundry hamper or a ‘dirty pile’ for hand washing. And then wash your hands after handling it. Launder your masks with detergent and dry in a warm to hot dryer. You can also hang to air dry, ideally in direct sunlight.

3. Limit reuse of disposable masks – use one for a day at most and then discard.

Throw them in the trash (not on the ground, please) after using them for a few hours, or if they get torn, dirty or become damp.

4. Choose the thickest mask you can tolerate.

The more layers of fabric in your face mask, the better – two at the very least. The less-stretchy the fabric, the better, since stretching means holes can open between fibers. Or, choose the kind with a removable disposable filter between the layers of fabric.

If you don’t have a mask that fits your face well, or you just have a thin, single-layer mask, you might consider doubling up. It might help both enhance filtration and give better coverage and a better seal around your nose and mouth.

But make sure you don’t impede your breathing with too many layers, and be careful not to touch your doubled-up masks to adjust them, which often sees people doing more than they do with a single mask. When you put on two masks, adjust them at the start so that they stay in place. If you have to adjust your layers, make sure you do so with freshly cleaned hands.

5. No face masks with valves.

If you have cloth masks with valves – little round areas where air flows more freely – throw them out or only wear them over a disposable mask. By themselves, they don’t protect the people around you because the valve allows your germs to get out.

6. Have spare masks on hand.

Make sure everyone in your house has a variety of cloth masks so you can have some to wash and some ready to wear. Your local health department, city or town government, hospital, insurance company or nonprofits might even be giving masks away.

Pick up a box of disposable masks so you can stash a few in your vehicle, handbag, toolbox or near your front door.

Insist that people who enter your home to do work put one on and keep it on, if they arrive without one. The same goes for unexpected guests, who should also remain outside or agree to let the windows be open when they’re inside for a short, masked visit.

And if you have to give someone a ride in your vehicle, even a child, make sure everyone wears a mask, open the windows, and keep the fresh air coming in through the vents.

7. Normalize mask wearing, and help those who might be new to this.

Worries about new variants of the virus, and new rules in places that might not have mandated masks before, mean that more people may be getting used to wearing masks. If you’re an old pro at this, help them by sharing tips and complimenting their masks.

Normalize mask use by wearing one in your social media profile and selfies with other people, as well as in your car with someone you don’t live with.

8. Let the young lead.

Make sure children and teens know they need to mask up too, and that they can often be leaders in prevention of health threats, reminding grownups of the right thing to do and how to do it (that’s what happened with regular tooth brushing, and seatbelt use, decades ago.) Talk about the subtle peer pressure that they may face from those who don’t want to wear a mask, and why they need to lead by example and find friends to help them stand up to that pressure.

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