The Biggest Face Mask Error You're Probably Making

Efforts to contain the coronavirus, flatten the curve, and prevent people from becoming sick include asking everyone to stay home, self-isolate, and avoid contact with other people, especially strangers. After all, people may be asymptomatic and not even know they're a carrier of the dangerous disease.

That's all well and good, except for all of the people who aren't lucky enough to be able to avoid the public during the pandemic, like all of the people performing essential work, fetching sustenance, or doing the other necessary tasks that lead them to leave the safety of home.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been recommending the use of face masks for some time now for those who must go out in public, for whom appropriate social distancing isn't necessarily practical. The CDC also offers tips on how to make your own cloth face covering at home.

But even with a mask, there are still risks, especially if you're wearing it or handling it wrong. One way to negate the benefit of wearing a face covering is by then touching the mask with unwashed hands. Hand washing is still one of the top techniques in our arsenal of self-care, and is crucial, especially after public contact of any kind.

As Dr. Jay Woody, chief medical officer of Intuitive Health, told Best Life,

"Your first line of defense against spreading the virus is to wash your hands. There is a lot of room for cross-contamination and even self-contamination."

And this is especially true before and after touching your mask. So, for best results, don't touch the mask by the cloth area; remove it by the ear loops holding it in place, as demonstrated by NBC's Vicky Nguyen.

And afterwards? Your hands aren't the only things that need washing. Cleanse the mask with hot water after each use, or pop it in the washing machine, if you have a reusable cloth mask. Between uses, storing your mask in a paper bag will help keep bacterial growth to a minimum.

While hand-to-mask action is the number one mask-related faux pas, there are plenty of other ways in which you can bungle the entire operation. Thankfully, most of them are easily solved by a bit of common sense.

For one example: If the mask isn't covering your nose, you're doing it wrong. Why? According to Thomas Russo, chief of the infectious disease division at the University of Buffalo,

"We often breathe partially or completely through our nose, and you can [become infected] by breathing viral particles. Likewise, if you're infected and your mask is down just covering your mouth, if you sneeze...then you can generate respiratory droplets in that fashion."

And those droplets are the number one way the disease spreads. Wearing the mask around your neck when it's not on your face is also not a great idea, basically for the same reason we don't want to touch it after use, cross-contamination. If the mask has come into contact with any infectious particles, you are then effectively wearing a coronavirus necklace.

It's also important to ensure your mask fits properly when you're wearing it, to make sure that it's actually doing its job. The CDC has already issued a warning for men with beards to be wary of the effect their bushy faces may have on masks. The more bulbous the bristles, the less likely the mask is going to be a tight fit. According to Erin Sorrell, an assistant research professor in Georgetown University's department of microbiology and immunology,

"You are not going to get a perfect seal with a surgical mask or with a homemade mask, but you want to make sure it fits properly. It needs to be comfortable so that you'll wear it, but secure enough that it doesn't slide down."

Generally, that means fiddling with the straps to ensure that gaps on the sides are minimized, and that it's not bouncing all over the place. Not all heroes wear masks, but in this case, doing so at least puts you on the right team. Watch the video to learn The Biggest Face Mask Error You're Probably Making!

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