Washing reusable masks?

[Reallyworried69]

How often do you do it? After every wear however brief? If you do a weekly shop? Once a week? I'm not sure what's advisable.

I peg disposables onto the washing line in full sunlight, then use them again.

Is that very bad?

(Obvs wouldn't be dong that once into overcast days of autumn, just the balmy summer ones when angle of sun makes UK the strongest)

Your disposable mask is useless if thats what you're doing with them.

I just hand wash mine in whatever temperature the hot water comes out of the tap ( use soap or washing up liquid ) - just like my hands .

I don’t wash mine but when the moon is full I go out onto the lawn, lay them down and fashion them into the shape of Boris Johnson’s face. Modern art style. They’re all different colours and it takes a while to get the shading down pat but once it’s done I disrobe and do a cleansing ritual dance.
I think this pleases Boris and in turn my masks become pure again.

(Sadly what I really do is put them in washing machine after a day’s wear but in reality this would be going into one or two shops. Not very extensive use. I do put mask into a zipped bag in between uses.)

Oh this has made me laugh.
I’m now actively trying to stay out of shops so I am just hand washing daily when I do wear them.

I wonder what the woman in Tesco’s today who was wearing hers on her chin and shouting all the way round does with hers?

I can 100% promise you lots of people are NEVER washing theirs and they are rewearing disposable ones over and over again. I think it’s absolutely bollocks to be honest, everyone is touching them and then touching stuff. It’s foul. Bring back social distancing and hand washing.

The only person a grubby mask hurts is the wearer. It will help prevent sneezes/coughs spreading the virus, even if it's grubby.

You wear your mask as clean as you like and it will protect you as well as other people.

I have 10 in separate Ikea bags.

Wear once and bag. Santitise hands.

Then wash on quick wash and dry cycle and clean bags.

I put one one as I enter the first shop, and take it off as I leave the last. If I'm going somewhere else afterwards, such as a petrol station, I use a fresh mask. If I'm going out again later, another mask. I wash them every time in a 40 or 60 degree wash. The rest of the family does the same.

I saw someone today wearing a clearly grubby disposable mask. The clue is in the name! Use once. Once you've taken it off, dispose of it!

Wear once and wash.

I bring several out with me but tend to keep on rather than constantly changing. Used ones go in a sandwich bag, then when I'm home I put them in a Tupperware with some soap and boiling water. Once a bit cool I give a good shake with lid on then hand rinse

"Not if they touch it and then touch something YOU touch. You think the grubby mask wearer never fiddles with it then squeezes mangoes in the supermarket? (Or whatever)"

But you can wash the mangoes. And your hands. You can't wash an unexpected sneeze in your vicinity, or the air you are breathing.

SetTone

Your disposable mask is useless if thats what you're doing with them

@Pinkflipflop85

Why?

(Genuine question as UV is hostile, and I leave them quarantined for a day or two, so surely anything which has been on them would have died off. And they'd still catch my effuivia)

I've sewn my own face coverings (I used to make quilts and have a large amount of fine-woven quilting cotton to use!) and have, um, four I think. Plus a Buff. DH has three and DS1 has two. (They don't go to shops really.)

Following the instructions from a renowned virologist whom I trust, I wash mine in hand-hot soapy water, as it's really the soap that kills this virus - the fats in soap break down the fatty capsule of the coronavirus. I then line-dry.

I've got a sort of line in the sand regarding how often I wash. If I wear it for five minutes, say, to pop into a shop and there are hardly any other people there, I'll wear it again. I'm fairly comfortable just popping it back into my bag. But if I do a supermarket shop where there are loads of other people, I take it off carefully, bag it and wash my hands, then it gets washed as soon as I'm home (ahem, mostly. Sometimes it sits on the floor of the car until I remember to). I'm sure someone will be along shortly to tell me I'm Doing It All Wrong, but I think it's fairly sensible.

Don't bother washing at 60, people! Just use lots of SOAP.

My dad, however, has been been ekeing out his supply of paper, disposable masks by soaking them in alcohol and drying in the sun (he lives somewhere very hot). I do wish he wouldn't - he's probably more at risk from inhaling alcohol fumes than anything else!

@IwishIwasyoda

I now wear disposables because I cannot be fucking doing with the wash after wearing malarky on 60 deg wash. there is nothing else coloured I should be washing at 60 deg so i'm damned if I'm buggering up my washing machine running it with a couple of facemasks. For all those washing with other laundry - you do appreciate there is fuck all point washing face masks at 30 or 40 degrees

Why? Soap denatures the virus, so why can't they be washed at low temperature? Just like my hands, body and the rest of my clothes.

After every wear, so if I'm in different places in one day I might wear 3-4. I have a big stack of clean washed ones in the car and I bought a little car bin so they go in there once worn and then into the laundry when I get home.

I must admit though I don't understand this 60 degree idea. When we wash our hands we don't wash at 60. A couple of the taps in my house has a digital display of the temperature and they're not at 60. I wash the masks at 40, although by the time they've had the UV light on the line then several days before I need them (I have a lot) there won't be any COVID on them.

Oh and I accidentally washed a disposable one and it is fine, so may be worth trying to wash them!

The hot very soapy water is the way to kill the virus. The explanation above about the virus being fatty coated is correct according to daughter who is a very experienced nurse.

@fedupwiththeidots

The only person a grubby mask hurts is the wearer. It will help prevent sneezes/coughs spreading the virus, even if it's grubby.

Not if they touch it and then touch something YOU touch. You think the grubby mask wearer never fiddles with it then squeezes mangoes in the supermarket? (Or whatever)

The grubby mask wearer doesn't care because he/she thinks it's stupid and pointless and is only doing it to avoid sticky beaks having a go at them.

Me, I don't wear one. They're gross.

This is not correct. It has been established that droplet transmission is important and that particle transmission plays a key role too. The virus is essntially airborne.

Surface transmission, on the contrary, has been found to be less important.

Masks also help with surface transmission by reducing droplets that will fall in surfaces.

Just keep washing your hands and fruit and veg, AND wear those masks properly and around people.