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?

For the non-washers?

Ignoring Covid for a moment, isn’t a clean mask just more pleasant? You are getting pretty up close and personal with this piece of cloth.

I have several of the same design so it may well look like in wearing the same one for days at a time, possibily the same with your colleagues.

Yes washed / put on basket daily.

Sorry that should read worn once rather than washed everyday.

[quote EarringsandLipstick]@Vintagevixen

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

You're wrong.

It's clear that you didn't read the linked article, or the Full Fact links, including to the WHO Myth Busters site.

These are reliable sources, by scientific & public health experts.

You're just spouting off nonsense due to, I can only surmise, laziness. Otherwise, why not read the article?

In that article, it's not only based on evidence re Covid, it looks at behavioural patterns around other public health initiatives and extrapolates accordingly. A known & accepted scientific method

You don't appear to understand research (or science). [/quote]
I had a look.

The quality of evidence is really poor - a lab based study where people stand still and provide breath samples/tested for viral loads in a lovely clean sterile calm environment in presumably masks that are hospital grade.

Very different to community use - those results cannot be extrapolated to community situations.

Yes I do understand how to interpret scientific studies - have a masters and been an ICU nurse for over 20 years so it's part of my job.

Masks. are an orthodoxy you are not allowed to question - I also understand that!

@APinchOfLOL

Some get worn and binned, some get picked up off the floor of my car and worn when I go to the supermarket, some are new and worn. I basically grab the first thing in front of me and go.

I absolutely HATE wearing a mask with a passion. I can't wait to rip it off my face and burn it. They do nothing except make you miserable and repressed, so no I don't give a damn whether my mask is washed or not.

The other day a pregnant friend of mine fainted and nearly choked on vomit as she couldn't breathe under these face prisons. If they are not dropped soon I am getting a lanyard that says I am exempt and I won't wear one anymore.

Me too. Fucking sick of the things. Didn't wear on on the school drop off two says in a row and no one challenged me (not that they're allowed to) felt liberating.

Wash my school run mask weekly I’m afraid, I only wear it for a few minutes a day.
Work wise I am sure colleagues think I wear the same one every day as it’s very distinctive but I had half a dozen identical ones made so I could rotate.
Shopping and everything else masks go in the wash basket at the end of the day in the pocket of whatever I’ve been wearing that day. Do love pockets.

@EarringsandLipstick I'm just of the opinion that breathing in fresh oxygen is healthier for everyone than recycling your own waste gas for hours on end. I also touch my face, nose, mouth etc far more whilst altering my mask than I do when I'm not wearing one, then touch other surfaces, repeat, which defeats the objective. So yeah, I wear it to make others feel safe.

@Vintagevixen , there are no RTCs on parachute either. Problems with the ethic committee apparently.
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10654-021-00735-7

[quote Postdatedpandemic]@Vintagevixen , there are no RTCs on parachute either. Problems with the ethic committee apparently.
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10654-021-00735-7[/quote]
Yeh but no one is making me get in a parachute, it's not really comparable! No one would take a new drug without rigorous testing and sound scientific evidence would they?

Yes there were ethical problems because so many of the studies were done in hospital on HCP's - as anyone who has been down the business end of a clean up can tell you, requiring them to be in a control group and not wear a mask when the poo is flying is of course unethical.

However studies of masks in the community don't have these ethical problems - as the DANMASK study was able to be done, they must have got ethical approval.

We have a couple of dozen between the four of us. There’s a stash of clean ones in the hallway, and a mesh laundry bag for used ones. They’re washed after use, and we sometimes get through more than one each a day. I wouldn’t use one twice.

Mask not plastic bag FFS. Some serious dickbrains on this thread, as usual.

It's not fun wearing a mask. Cope. You aren't special.

@murbblurb

Mask not plastic bag FFS. Some serious dickbrains on this thread, as usual.

It's not fun wearing a mask. Cope. You aren't special.

Where has anyone said they aren't wearing a mask?

Everyone says they are. Whatever their feelings on the matter. Where we differ is over the fastidiousness of cleaning it, or otherwise.

The law says (in Scotland at least) wear a face covering. Not a mask. Unless you're exempt.

That's it. All the manky people like me who are keeping disposables kicking about in the car are law-abiding. There are no laws prescribing how we should be wearing and disposing of our masks. Only recommendations. Stick to the guidelines if you like, but people are free not to comply with that if they don't want to.

@StormcloakNord

Oh dear. You'd hate me lol

I have about 3 masks I often scramble to find. Bought them at the start of this pandemic and they've never been washed whoops!

I only wear them because I have to though, not because I think it offers any form of protection.

Ok can you read to any competent level? I assume so as you managed to write this. I'd so have a little Google and read about the protection masks offer. How embarrassing for you.

Also really fucking grubby. Eeeww

I agree with pp that coronavirus or no coronavirus, wearing masks you’ve breathed into multiple times is gross.

How would you feel if someone operating on you picked a mask up off the floor to wear, one that they’d worn 20 times before.

Reminds of a thread where a poster said she washed her jeans four times a year. I am still recovering from the very thought of being in a confined space with this person, or sitting on the same chair - eeeugh.

@IrmaFayLear

I agree with pp that coronavirus or no coronavirus, wearing masks you’ve breathed into multiple times is gross.

How would you feel if someone operating on you picked a mask up off the floor to wear, one that they’d worn 20 times before.

Reminds of a thread where a poster said she washed her jeans four times a year. I am still recovering from the very thought of being in a confined space with this person, or sitting on the same chair - eeeugh.

Some people never wash their jeans, they pop them in the freezer - same effect as washing.

Operating on someone is hardly the equivalent of popping into the supermarket for a pint of milk, is it?

[quote 5zeds]**@kowari* my mask is dry and doesn't smell at all after a day of occasional use.* I think it’s more likely your sense of smell is less acute than you think. Everyone’s breath smells, especially if caught in a mask for more than a few minutes.[/quote]
I don't breathe through my mouth when wearing one, I keep my mouth closed. If there was anything wrong with my sense of smell then the smell of washing powder on them wouldn't bother me so much, I don't use a lot either.

[quote eandz13]**@EarringsandLipstick* I'm just of the opinion that breathing in fresh oxygen is healthier for everyone than recycling your own waste gas for hours on end. I also touch my face, nose, mouth etc far more whilst altering my mask than I do when I'm not wearing one, then touch other surfaces, repeat, which defeats the objective. So yeah, I wear it to make others feel* safe. [/quote]
Manifestly wearing a mask doesn't mean that you're recycling your own waste gas. Not least because that would mean breathing in carbon dioxide almost exclusively, which would be kind of fatal.

I don't breathe through my mouth when wearing one, do you imagine “breath” only smells and is only damp if it comes out of your mouth??? Do you think your nose filters out all moisture/bacteria/scent??? As I said I think it’s more likely your sense of smell is compromised.

Goodness knows I'm definitely not Mrs Clean, but I do find the concept of repeatedly wearing something close to my nose and mouth that I've been breathing damp air through for days or weeks on end distinctly unpleasant.

@Vintagevixen the DANMASK trial showed a 18% reduction of infections to mask wearers, because it was looking at ingress.
The unethical part is testing for egress. To do it properly you would have to allow infected individual to wander around without masks.
The study was inconclusive because the null hypothesis set a 50% level.

But, that is not why we are being asked to wear masks.
We are asked to wear masks to keep our own germs to ourselves, on the insides of our masks. So it is probably a good idea to wash them quite frequently.

Wear once and wash here. Whether or not you believe in masks protecting you (I take it with a pinch of salt personally), surely you'd want to clean something that's been on your face? I think that if I didn't wash mine regularly, my skin would break out.

I have several masks I keep in a little basket. I use a fresh one when I leave the house, and it gets chucked in with the next load of washing on return. Easy enough, and I use a fresh mask because who wants to use a manky one?

[quote Postdatedpandemic]@Vintagevixen the DANMASK trial showed a 18% reduction of infections to mask wearers, because it was looking at ingress.
The unethical part is testing for egress. To do it properly you would have to allow infected individual to wander around without masks.
The study was inconclusive because the null hypothesis set a 50% level.

But, that is not why we are being asked to wear masks.
We are asked to wear masks to keep our own germs to ourselves, on the insides of our masks. So it is probably a good idea to wash them quite frequently.[/quote]
You are correct it studied ingress not egress! Don't think anyone has invented a way to study egress yet.

However it found no statistical difference when considering the protection of the Mask wearer - the BMJ states that this was an inconclusive trial rather than negative or positive about protective effects for the wearer. So I can't see an 18% figure in it.

Anyway off to the shops now with my silk scarf in my pocket!