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?

@Iremembertheelderlykoreanlady

I have one mask in the centre console of my car. I'm not convinced it's ever been washed tbh. Maybe once...

Not got covid yet! 🤞

IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU GETTING COVID!

It's about avoiding transmission to OTHERS

(How do people not know this?)

Still going to keep ironing my masks though

@DeRigueurMortis you are my soul mate. I have to iron mine too! 😂

Ours are reusable, we have about 50 and use them once, then they go into the wash. So some days we might use 2-3 each if we go to separate places. Although my son at secondary school does use his for the whole day since he was coming home with unused ones anyway.

I'm on about my third disposable one since last July.
So if anyone's wondering why this bug is so rife.... ⬆️

Hell yes. I don't even wash mine. Like the NHS I throw mine away, disposable all the way. If that is what they do, then I will do the same.

@EarringsandLipstick

Still going to keep ironing my masks though

@DeRigueurMortis you are my soul mate. I have to iron mine too! 😂

I am not alone 😂😂😂

MN has taught me how disgusting people are. So many lack basic hygiene.

I wash ours after every use. My child has a clean washable mask for school each day, he says that some of the children are wearing the same disposal ones every day, he knows it's the same one because the masks are filthy and falling to pieces.

Normally use standard daily disposable surgical face masks which are disposed after use. Washable cloth masks are washed and ironed frequently. Again fresh one used daily for each wearer. Been doing this for petty much a year now and initially using only 3M N95, FFP2 and KN95 masks consequently disposable surgical masks but later also numerous cloth masks washed with surgical spirit (diluted with water) for anti viral deep cleaning but less rigorous these days as dispensed with using surgical spirit to wash.

I've got a rotation of masks. One per day, two if I remember - but I'm only wearing them briefly throughout the day, as my job requires me to not wear them most of the time and I don't generally visit shops.

I'll continue to wear them well after any requirement is lifted. I think East Asian countries, where most people wear them by default in public places, have the right idea. It's about not being selfish.

I uses fresh one for each outing, so school run followed by shopping is one mask, if I head home for a few hours then do school pick up it’s a fresh mask. We’ve got a basket of masks by the door and spare in the car. Some I prefer to others so you might see me and think I’ve always got the same one on but I’ve probably got several the same. Could be the same for your friend?

Kids wear two at school every day, I have one I walk ds into school with that I change once a week it lives in the car mon to drive. I wear a clean one if I go shopping/out. They all get washed together, tumble dried and then go back to each persons mask (pencil) case.
Sometimes I add cinnamon/lemon/perfume to see if anyone notices....they don’t

For those who think a neighbour or colleague wears the same mask each day, I bought 10 identical ones in plain black for me, 10 for DH too. We wear a clean mask each day but it might not be noticed by his colleagues.

I wash mine in the washing up bowl late evening. They usually have some lipstick on them.

I've never washed them. Just change every few days. You wear them for a fraction of the amount of time you'd wear a thong for in a day and people aren't washing them every few hours.

With the disposable ones I guess it depends how much you pay, I pay £3.50 for 50 from Amazon so not much, they just get thrown away. Some in the shops are about £5 for 5-10, could work out quite expensive with these.

It's depressing how many people buy disposables and throw them away after a single use instead of buying reusables and washing them.

It might be hygienic but it's bloody awful for the environment.

I don’t wear them that frequently but if I were wearing one for over 30 mins, it’d be a reusable and washed before being worn again (apart from anything else, they end up with make up on them and putting that on again would be revolting & bad for my skin).

Quick dash to a local shop? I wear a one-wear disposable. Binned after use (with the ear hooks ripped off).

Cariadlet we have to now wear disposables in my school as they are more effective... So no choice for some. But I use my reusables outside of work.

In the early days I was more stringent about changing them all the time. I don’t want to own loads of these, I must admit I’ve just got into the habit of shoving it back in my pocket after school drop off and using it again later on. I might end up using it again as I’d forget to put it in the wash. If the purpose is to reduce transmission by breathing then that doesn’t seem to be a problem. At work we have to wear the disposable ones.

HeyGirlHeyBoy I knew that hospital staff wear disposables but I'm surprised that a school would also insist on them. My school says masks for shared areas but doesn't tell us what sort so we've all got reusables. I would have thought they were fine for school use unless you were in an area with a huge number of cases. We don't have the close repeated contact with covid positive people that NHS staff do.

I have never washed mine.

That's the policy in mine (Ireland). We have higher numbers in smaller classes perhaps?

Hand wash mine in bleach washing up liquid mix ...as hot as I can ....dry overnight ...back on next day