Do you double / triple mask?

[WalrusWife]

I’m seeing this as a thing on social media.

I do, I wear two masks, also with filter. I have to go to the supermarket once a week for my mother but I also look after my ECV father and my husband has heart issues so I want to be as careful as possible.

What on earth for?!
Surely one mask is enough?!
Sounds OTT to me.

Quintuple? Come on are you even trying?
I wear 12. Including one on my bum

Not even in work. In a hospital, patient facing.

You know when you finally realise what a phrase means? Face palm. I finally get it.

I really don’t understand why so many people in the U.K. say they feel like a mask suffocates them. I’m in New York, where everyone has been wearing masks - indoors, outdoors, and even exercising - since March and it’s just... not a big deal! It’s so rare to see someone not wearing one in public that I do a double take.

I wear one usually but will wear two (cloth over surgical) when using public transport or getting a test/ the vaccine. I find masks with adjustable ear straps are much more comfortable.

@PicsInRed

I pop a full thickness plastic bag over my head and gaffer tape it airtight. It does limit the length of shopping trips - one way or the other - but I've never felt safer. 🌈

Nice one

I was told by a friend that double masking seems to stop the mask going "soggy" with breath condensation when the weather is cold and/or when worn for a long time. Not sure if it works as I haven't tried it....

I thought the reason was that N95/FFP3 masks only protect the wearer, so their exhale is as bad as no mask, yet highly beneficial to wearer. So 2nd mask (non N95:FFP3) goes on top and contributes to protecting others.

Some airlines were forbidding N95/FFP3 masks over the summer as they do not protect others.

My PB for hyperventilating in a single ply Buff is 45 secinds.
My PB in a visor is 3 minutes.

Nope. Extra obstruction to my airways and sensory overload ain't happening.

Its because the new variant is so contagious

Or its because the economy is tanking and we need to get people spending more so lets double the amount they need to spend on masks.

@hawtree masks are mainly to protect others

@Pan2

Well with new, very much more infectious, variants it may need a different practice. If folk are happier catching and also spreading the virus than wearing a second layer then it's a bit of a comment on them really.

For all those saying: it's a personal choice, why get so worked up, no-one's forcing you, etc - this is why.

It's not obligatory at all and yet there are already the holier-than-thou ready with the passive-aggressive quip about those of us who don't want to.

No chance. I saw a pic of some earring an FFP3 over a fabric mask the other day. Defeats the object as the FFP3 won't have the correct fit.

You can double triple or whatever you like any standard mask does nothing and is another pointless thing forced upon us by the idiot government

No, I wear one with a filter.

On my way to Tesco

@WalrusWife

I’m seeing this as a thing on social media.

There are lots of "things" on social media I have no desire to copy. One mask is bad enough. Multiple, for a supermarket trip, is patently ridiculous.

@WanderingMilly

I was told by a friend that double masking seems to stop the mask going "soggy" with breath condensation when the weather is cold and/or when worn for a long time. Not sure if it works as I haven't tried it....

Is that because you can't breathe at all?

Or maybe because all the breath is being "caught" on the inside mask, rendering the outer mask all a bit pointless really?

I did see someone in Asda the other day in a full on WW2 style gas mask. Hard not to stare.

It sounds like a good idea and I also noticed it in the Biden inauguration footage. Experts in Germany have been recommending it too from what I read.

Most people here in the UK don't even seem to know how to wear one mask properly though. Watch any interview on TV with people wearing a mask and their masks are constantly falling down under their nose and being adjusted back by pulling the middle part where you'd pick up any potential virus you're breathing out and then spreading it everywhere from your hands.

I have yet to find a mask that doesn't move down when I'm talking. If the stupid thing would stay put I'd touch it less!

No ....i struggle to breathe through 1 mask!

I have masks which dont move, I’ll see if i can find a photo

They are cotton though

Like this

I don't but I do knot the straps and fold in the sides of my surgical mask to make it fit better so there is much less in the way of gaps. I think the idea with a second mask is to improve fit, I have seen studies that show a 'stocking' type fabric over the last so it is close fitting improves efficiency in a similar way without adding more full layers.,

I have with hospital appointments. Surgical mask underneath and cotton mask over the top.