Frequently Asked Questions About Wearing a Face Mask

July 22, 2020, 12:23 pm 10.1k Views 22 Comments

Source: City of Santa Barbara

Face coverings or masks reduce the spread of coronavirus, especially when combined with physical distancing and frequent hand washing. Coronavirus spreads when an infected person speaks, sneezes, or coughs within 6 feet of others. It is possible for you to have the virus and spread it even if you have no symptoms and feel well. Wearing a face mask protects people around you.

When should I wear a face covering?

You must wear a face covering or mask whenever you are outside of your home in public settings, including:

  • Outdoors, if you can’t stay 6 feet away from others

  • At work, when near other people or in common areas 

  • Inside any indoor public space including grocery or retail stores

  • When waiting in line

  • When getting health care

  • On public transportation or when ride-sharing

When can you take off your mask?

There are times when it’s alright to take your mask off when you’re away from home, such as:

  • When eating or drinking

  • When you’re not sharing a common area, room or enclosed space with others

  • When outdoors in public and can stay six feet from others

  • If a hearing-impaired person needs to read your lips

  • If wearing a face covering imposes a risk to you at work – for example, if it could get caught in machinery

  • When you are getting a service to the nose or face

What is a face covering and how should it be worn?

A face covering is a material that covers the nose and mouth. Don’t wear your mask under your nose or just on your chin. A mask is only effective if it covers both ways you breathe. It can be secured to the head with ties or straps or simply wrapped around the lower face. A mask can be made at home using a scarf or t-shirt. It should be made of tightly woven fabric. Face coverings with one-way valves are discouraged as they permit respiratory droplets that may easily escape, placing others at risk.

Who shouldn’t wear a mask?

  • Children under 2 years old

  • Anyone with respiratory issues where it would impede their breathing

  • Anyone unable to remove the mask without help

  • Anyone with a medical condition, mental health condition, or disability that does not allow them to wear a mask

How should I care for a cloth face covering?

It’s a good idea to wash your cloth face covering frequently, ideally after each use, with detergent and hot water. If you must re-wear your cloth face covering before washing, wash your hands immediately after putting it back on and avoid touching your face. Discard cloth face coverings that:

  • Cannot stay on the face

  • Do not cover the nose and mouth

  • Have stretched out or damaged ties or straps

  • Have holes or tears in the fabric

Read the official guidance from the California Department of Public Health:  State Guidance on Face Coverings

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  2. Generaltree, that study does not prove the efficacy of masks to protect against covid-19. The emask efficacy section of the paper states “although no randomizes controlled trials (RCT) on the use of masks for source control for SARS-Cov-2 has been published, a number of studies have attempted to indirectly estimate the efficacy of masks.” Efficacy has not been proven, attempts have been made to indirectly estimate it. Here is a peer reviewed paper on the CDC’s website reporting that in 14 randomized controlled trials masks and hand hygiene did not have a substantial effect on the transmission of laboratory confirmed influenza. The paper also noted that improper use of masks might increase the risk of transmission.

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  4. Anyone who thinks that wearing a face mask does not greatly cut down the risk of transmission of respiratory diseases like COVID-19 has either not been paying attention to what’s happening around the world or is fatuously promoting a political agenda for a medical problem.

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  5. Lancet reports today after a 50 country data study: “In contrast, those countries with a higher median population age ….., prevalence of obesity ……… and a longer number of days to any border closure …….. had significantly higher caseloads.”

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  6. MAC – the problem isn’t so much with the ones who think masks don’t work, it’s with those inbred, mindless, drooling goblins who serious believe that wearing a mask is an affront to their free-dums. I just can’t with these people anymore. Half our country has devolved to a rag tag bunch of uneducated morons, racists, science deniers and fascist loving cretins. It’s time to thin that herd out.

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  8. 3:28, in more advanced countries like China, the people you describe are treated with compassion. Instead of allowing them to run free, harming themselves and others with their dangerous ideas, they are taken in by the welcoming arms of the state and provided with the education they are so desperately lacking. In fact, the New York Times just ran a story about how these misguided people who China has compassionately inducted into its re-education program
    Manufacture a significant portion of the masks that we consume in the USA. Perhaps we could start a similar program here at home…

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  9. The article Chip posted literally states “However, as with hand hygiene, face masks might be able to reduce the transmission of other infections and therefore have value in an influenza pandemic when healthcare resources are stretched.” And here is a quote of from the CDC website “Cloth face coverings are most likely to reduce the spread of COVID-19 when they are widely used by people in public settings.” Here are a few other studies>
    Rothe C, Schunk M, Sothmann P, et al. Transmission of 2019-nCoV Infection from an Asymptomatic Contact in Germany. The New England journal of medicine. 2020;382(10):970-971. PMID: 32003551external icon
    Zou L, Ruan F, Huang M, et al. SARS-CoV-2 Viral Load in Upper Respiratory Specimens of Infected Patients. The New England journal of medicine. 2020;382(12):1177-1179. PMID: 32074444external icon
    Pan X, Chen D, Xia Y, et al. Asymptomatic cases in a family cluster with SARS-CoV-2 infection. The Lancet Infectious diseases. 2020. PMID: 32087116external icon
    Bai Y, Yao L, Wei T, et al. Presumed Asymptomatic Carrier Transmission of COVID-19. Jama. 2020. PMID: 32083643external icon
    Kimball A HK, Arons M, et al. Asymptomatic and Presymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Residents of a Long-Term Care Skilled Nursing Facility — King County, Washington, March 2020. MMWR Morbidity and mortality weekly report. 2020; ePub: 27 March 2020. PMID: 32240128external icon
    Wei WE LZ, Chiew CJ, Yong SE, Toh MP, Lee VJ. Presymptomatic Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 — Singapore, January 23–March 16, 2020. MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2020;ePub: 1 April 2020. PMID: 32271722external icon
    Li R, Pei S, Chen B, et al. Substantial undocumented infection facilitates the rapid dissemination of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV2). Science (New York, NY). 2020. PMID: 32179701external icon
    Furukawa NW, Brooks JT, Sobel J. Evidence Supporting Transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 While Presymptomatic or Asymptomatic [published online ahead of print, 2020 May 4]. Emerg Infect Dis. 2020;26(7):10.3201/eid2607.201595. Link
    Oran DP, Topol Prevalence of Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Narrative Review [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jun 3]. Ann Intern Med. 2020;M20-3012. PMID: 32491919external icon
    National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Rapid Expert Consultation on the Possibility of Bioaerosol Spread of SARS-CoV-2 for the COVID-19 Pandemic (April 1, 2020). Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25769external icon.
    Schwartz KL, Murti M, Finkelstein M, et al. Lack of COVID-19 transmission on an international flight. CMAJ. 2020;192(15):E410. PMID: 32392504external icon
    Anfinrud P, Stadnytskyi V, Bax CE, Bax A. Visualizing Speech-Generated Oral Fluid Droplets with Laser Light Scattering. N Engl J Med. 2020 Apr 15. doi:10.1056/NEJMc2007800. PMID: 32294341external icon
    Davies A, Thompson KA, Giri K, Kafatos G, Walker J, Bennett A. Testing the efficacy of homemade masks: would they protect in an influenza pandemic? Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2013;7(4):413-8. PMID: 24229526external icon
    Konda A, Prakash A, Moss GA, Schmoldt M, Grant GD, Guha S. Aerosol Filtration Efficiency of Common Fabrics Used in Respiratory Cloth Masks. ACS Nano. 2020 Apr 24. PMID: 32329337external icon
    Aydin O, Emon B, Saif MTA. Performance of fabrics for home-made masks against spread of respiratory infection through droplets: a quantitative mechanistic study. medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.19.20071779, posted April 24, 2020.
    Ma QX, Shan H, Zhang HL, Li GM, Yang RM, Chen JM. Potential utilities of mask-wearing and instant hand hygiene for fighting SARS-CoV-2. J Med Virol. 2020. PMID: 32232986external icon
    Leung, N.H.L., Chu, D.K.W., Shiu, E.Y.C. et al.Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks. Nat Med. 2020. PMID: 32371934external icon
    Johnson DF, Druce JD, Birch C, Grayson ML. A quantitative assessment of the efficacy of surgical and N95 masks to filter influenza virus in patients with acute influenza infection. Clin Infect Dis. 2009 Jul 15;49(2):275-7. PMID: 19522650external icon
    Green CF, Davidson CS, Panlilio AL, et al. Effectiveness of selected surgical masks in arresting vegetative cells and endospores when worn by simulated contagious patients. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2012;33(5):487‐494. PMID: 22476275external icon

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  10. Thank you for clarifying the following:
    “WHEN CAN YOU TAKE OFF YOUR MASK? …
    There are times when it’s alright to take your mask off when you’re away from home, such as:…
    When outdoors in public and can stay six feet from others …”
    I’m tired of people being vilified for not wearing masks in public, when it is totally appropriate not to wear a mask if you can maintain physical distance of six feet or more.

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  11. LANCET June 1, 2020 – WHO data base analysis of Covid-19 protection measures – 3 feet distancing is sufficient, no basis for 6 feet, and masks may help, not conclusive:……. “The findings of this systematic review of 172 studies (44 comparative studies; n=25 697 patients) on COVID-19, SARS, and MERS provide the best available evidence that current policies of at least 1 m physical distancing are associated with a large reduction in infection, and distances of 2 m might be more effective. These data also suggest that wearing face masks protects people (both health-care workers and the general public) against infection by these coronaviruses, and that eye protection could confer additional benefit. However, none of these interventions afforded complete protection from infection, and their optimum role might need risk assessment and several contextual considerations. No randomised trials were identified for these interventions in COVID-19, SARS, or MERS…..”

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  12. Chip says masks don’t work. Chip says the masks that don’t work should be manufactured here. Chip quoted a Chinese study that masks don’t work. Chip wants schools to open in spite of masks not working. Using deduction, Chip wants the disease to spread through the schools and be brought home.

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  13. WHO concluded there is no proof “masks work”. Read the Lancet published WHO study on their data analysis – June 1, 2020. Plus WHO concluded 3 feet (one meter) is sufficient distancing. 6 ft distancing was initially merely a myth; and never a fact. 3 feet distancing will be a huge breakthrough for schools, families, strangers and businesses.

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  14. Wow. So just wear an F’ing mask already! Yes, the “science” is not clear and is ever-changing, but the basics are. Wear a mask and there is less risk of infecting someone else. Yes, it’s probably not going to protect you at all. If you’re in the high-risk zone then stay the F’ home already! Everyone else, wear a mask, wash your hands and quit with the bitching!

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  17. Here is a video showing how various types of masks perform when a vape pen user exhales a vape cloud through them. Typical masks fitted in typical fashion don’t do a whole lot to reduce the cloud of vapor, showing they are basically useless. N95 masks do reduce the visible portion of the cloud of vapor if fitted well. However, smaller particles, the aerosols that hang in the air for hours and travel through hvac systems, are small enough to pass through even an N95 filter. As an additional experiment, I think it would be interesting to put a tracing dye on masks that fluoresces under UV light, then see how much the dye spreads around people and surfaces after a period of typic mask usage. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=almtH9kipl0

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  18. They *properly and consistently* wore masks, in the beginning, before there was a huge population of infected people. It helped reduce the spread. But masks do part of the job. Social distancing and hand washing/disinfecting also important. The other key part, not implemented here, is the restriction of infected population movement into and within a community. Closing borders, including state borders. Instead, locally, we INVITE people from LA to fill our hotels, use our beaches and restaurants. In Florida infected people from Miami drive to low-risk Orlando to play at Disney World. How stupid is that?
    Back to masks. Do your eyeglasses fog up? Then if you’re infected, virus particles are now on your eyeglasses and floating through the air around your face. Do you touch and reposition it, pull it down to talk or wipe away moisture or the itch? Let’s add gloves to that and go to the grocery store. To see exactly how useless they are to stop the spread, watch this video from the Rush University Medical Center: https://youtu.be/BV25KmvUNv4
    All that being said, wearing a mask in public places where you cannot reliably be socially distant is, for now, a reasonable and responsibly thing to do. It works, not completely and not perfectly but it works. That’s okay. Wearing it when you’re outside for a walk or strolling on the sand and away from people, or driving in the car by yourself is absolutely completely useless.

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