How to choose and use masks?

Under the pandemic, masks have evidently become necessities during going out. Walking in the streets and alleyways, wearing masks when going out has become an economical and effective approach for self-protection. Masks can not only prevent patients from spraying droplets, decrease the amount and spraying speed of droplets, but also resist droplet nuclei containing virus, thus protecting the wearers.

Masks have a certain filtering effect on the air entering the lungs, so when respiratory infectious diseases are prevalent, wearing masks is effective when working in a polluted environment with dust and so on. Masks include air filter masks and air supply masks.

The anti-side leakage design of masks mainly considers the technical factor of preventing the air from being inhaled through the gap between the mask and the human face instead of being inhaled through filtering layers. Air is like flowing water. It prefers to flow to the place where there is less resistance. When the shape of a mask does not fit closely with the face of a person, the hazardous substances in the air leak in from the parts not fit closely with the face and enter the respiratory tract of the person. So, even if a mask with the best filter material is selected, your health can not be guaranteed. Many laws, regulations and standards overseas stipulate that workers shall take part in regular test of the tightness of masks. This aims to ensure that workers choose masks of the right size and wear them according to the correct steps.

Wearing masks is the top priority of pandemic prevention. How to choose masks for different groups of people? How to dispose of different masks after they are used? When to store and change masks? Listen to my explanation for you so that you select and use the right masks in a reasonable and moderate way, and dispose of them properly, making masks an important defensive line against the infection of COVID-19.

Ordinary people who are healthy do not need to take N95 masks as their standard equipment. It's enough for them to wear medical surgical masks when going out. Those who are suspected to be sick or have symptoms such as fever and cough shall not wear masks with one-way breathing valves, or their own viruses cannot be prevented from spreading in the air. The medical staff in high-risk environments, due to being in close contact with patients at all times, must wear medical protective masks with a higher level of medical protection.

Nowadays, the average daily production capacity of medical N95 masks in China is only 600,000, but they are seen as the basic protection urgently needed by medical staff in the front-line ICU. They are fighting for us, so let us do something for them, that is, leave N95 masks to those who need them more through rational protection of ourselves.

Rational protection shall be implemented, and it is very important to dispose of masks after they are used.