Properly wearing a mask or cloth face covering can help keep you safe while navigating the COVID-19 pandemic.
As cases of COVID-19 begin to spike again across the country, it’s important to stay steadfast in helping prevent further spread of the virus. While you should continue to wash your hands, cover your coughs and sneezes, avoid touching your face and follow social distancing rules, wearing a mask is an additional step you should also take to stay safe.
As we’ve learned throughout this pandemic, the most common way COVID-19 spreads is through person-to-person contact. When an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks, they produce respiratory droplets that can travel about six feet and can land in the mouths or noses of those nearby. COVID-19 can also be spread by people who don’t know they have the virus since they aren’t experiencing any symptoms.
While wearing a mask may not keep you from getting COVID-19, it can help lower the odds. If you’re sick, a mask can help keep your germs from infecting others. If you’re healthy, a mask can help keep respiratory droplets from someone who is sick from landing in your nose and mouth. While we can’t quantify how effective it is to wear a mask, we do know it offers some protection while not wearing one offers none. In short, we are all at the lowest risk when everyone wears a mask.
To make sure you are properly protected, there are some things you should and should NOT do when wearing a mask or cloth face covering:
• Choose a mask that doesn’t have a valve or other openings in it.
• Make sure it covers your face from the bridge of your nose down to your chin.
• Try to fit it snugly against the sides of your face, making sure there are no gaps.
• Make sure you can breathe easily through it.
• Wash it regularly using water and a mild detergent; dry it completely in a hot dryer; store it in a clean container or bag.
• Do not allow it to slip under your nose and don’t wear it on your forehead or around your neck.
• Do not put it on a child younger than 2, anyone who has trouble breathing or anyone who is unconscious, incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove it without assistance.
• Do not touch the inside of it, as it may be contaminated from your breathing, coughing or sneezing.
• Do not share it with others in your household without washing and drying it first.
