It is normal to wash face masks every day, isn’t it?

[Bvop]

Promoted by another thread - but also by a couple of friends who always seem to be wearing the same face mask: what’s normal re washing? I have one mask all day at work but it goes in the laundry basket when I get home, as do the kids’ and if we go out again we get new masks from the basket of clean ones. This is normal, isn’t it, and it’s gross to wear the same mask unwashed for more than one day?

I made mine last summer and have never washed it. Perhaps I should. There again I rarely wash scarves.

I have 10 masks made of the same material so to the outside world it probably looks like im wearing the same one constantly but i wash them after wearing.

@RaspberryCoulis

Whatever, *@EarringsandLipstick*. When you're working from home, your DH is working from home, the kids are stuck at home and not in school, you're not using public transport, or seeing/caring for any relatives, not going anywhere except the supermarket, you're not risk to anyone. Ever.

What? That's not the situation tho, is it? Your kids aren't in school? When it was lockdown, you didn't go to the shops?

Sure, if you go nowhere, you don't need to wear a mask.

But most people do go places, and mask wearing, when mandated, helps protect others.

Nothing wrong with being questioning and wanting proof IMO.

You got the proof that is currently available.

Not everything can be proven in the way you specify.

However you can look at available evidence, and the sources for that evidence & weigh it up.

Where's your evidence to the contrary? 🤷🏻‍♀️

I am in close contact with clients so I change my mask between each client in case the outside in case it has covid particles on it. My local post office lady told me how people come in wearing brown stained paper masks as they’ve worn them so much! If you look at the inside of your mask and you see brown stains in it that’s carbon dioxide and pollution you have been breathing in and out. Do you want that back on your face?

"Wearing a mask without observing proper hygiene reduces its efficacy significantly. "

Does it?

If one person wears hers for a few minutes whilst doing a shop, and then wears it again the next day for a few minutes, then washes it. How significantly does this affect covid transmission?

Please link to scientific studies, %'s and rates?

Do keep up, @EarringsandLipstick. You are the one going on about how masks aren't so important NOW, but were of critical importance a few months ago.

I was merely saying that at THAT TIME, when everyone's stuck at home and only going to the supermarket, they weren't the magic bullet then either.

This thread is wild. Talk about washing towels on here and people are falling over themselves to say they wash them after every use etc.

But something you wear on your face, sweat into, breathe onto... good GOD why would you wash it?

It's all very disingenuous. And really very dim too.

Jesus, this thread is rank!!
I can't believe people are wearing dirty masks for months. Puke.

At work I change them 4th hourly at the very least. My reusable ones get changed daily.

And FWIW, I am far from a clean freak, and no my bed sheets don't get washed at the same frequency as my masks.

We have a hook for clean masks by the door and worn ones go in a basket by the washing machine every evening. We get through five or so per day. I do a mask wash every three days or do.

little I understand plenty thanks. Mostly that some people seem to enjoy illness and lockdowns and can't be bothered to do anything tiny to reduce virus spread.

I'm off to the supermarket while it's empty and double masking now .

I have duplicates of the same ones, so it could look like I was always wearing the same mask - but once one has been worn it goes into the 'dirty masks' bag and once they are washed they go back into the 'clean masks' bag

I'm off to the supermarket while it's empty and double masking now

ooooh get you with your DOUBLE MASKING! Does that make you doubly virtuous, doubly caring and doubly A-MAY-ZING?

@megletthesecond

little I understand plenty thanks. Mostly that some people seem to enjoy illness and lockdowns and can't be bothered to do anything tiny to reduce virus spread.

I'm off to the supermarket while it's empty and double masking now .

People are wearing masks - if they aren’t washed every time they’re worn for 5 minutes so what.

Not sure why wearing two makes you feel superior...

@EarringsandLipstick

Nothing wrong with being questioning and wanting proof IMO.

You got the proof that is currently available.

Not everything can be proven in the way you specify.

However you can look at available evidence, and the sources for that evidence & weigh it up.

Where's your evidence to the contrary? 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'm not the one asking people to carry out a highly uncomfortable intervention.

People are asking me to do something, so they need to provide the high quality evidence, just as I would expect if I was asked to take a new drug. I expect the same standards of evidence.

Realistically there is no proof either way because the studies are so poor.

So I can say I don't believe masks work but there is little proof. Equally you can say they work but there is also little proof for this.

So we are both in the same position.

I wash my masks after each use, even if I just popped to the corner shop for 5 minutes.

I wash and change after use. We know the need for cleanliness. You wash your hands more or better now don’t you? you wash your face at the very least once a day don’t you? so why would anyone not wash their mask daily? Especially with breathing in it. Tiny droplets on the inside and who know what it might have encountered while out. After all we know we need to keep possible germs at bay, don’t slacken with one small thing is what I would say!

I only have to wear a mask when I go to the shops or gym so mine rarely get washed.

The kids get a fresh mask every few days unless they look grubby.

@Osrie

I wash and change after use. We know the need for cleanliness. You wash your hands more or better now don’t you? you wash your face at the very least once a day don’t you? so why would anyone not wash their mask daily? Especially with breathing in it. Tiny droplets on the inside and who know what it might have encountered while out. After all we know we need to keep possible germs at bay, don’t slacken with one small thing is what I would say!

I don’t wash my hands any differently now to how I washed them pre pandemic. I always washed them often and thoroughly.

After a few hours my mask is a little damp. The thought of people leaving a mask on all day everyday and not washing regularly is not envy.

I wash ours every time we use them and nag the kids to change and replace each day. A mask gets wet after wearing for a short time, so feels yucky to keep wearing them without a wash!

Oh I can't be bothered to read all this - how can there be any debate about this? ALL official advice says wash fabric masks after every day's wear. Honestly, it's not that hard.

Handy infographic from WHO

To add if I didn't wfh and had to wear a mask all day at work then I'd change it daily.

@Archiduchesse

Yes. Treat them like knickers - wear once, do not turn inside out, change if damp or soiled! 😀

Nah. If I wore my knickers for 10 minutes I would wear them again the next day.

My masks get washed very infrequently. Basically if I happen to spot one hanging around when I'm putting a wash on. They've probably been washed about 3 times since the mask rules came in.

Yes, it is here.
Every other day if barely used, such as heading into a shop just once in the day, etc etc.
If need to wear one all day for some reason we would change to a fresh mask midday especially if it's warm.

We both have a number of masks. Dh has 3 he prefers but does have a couple of others too. I have lots.

Throw them in the wash when we get in, grab a new one as we leave the next day.