How often should I wash a face mask?
Best practice is to wash your face mask at the end of every day.
While viruses cannot live on fabric forever, early research …
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Best practice is to wash your face mask at the end of every day.
While viruses cannot live on fabric forever, early research suggests covid-19 can live on fabric for anywhere from several hours up to a full day.
If you were to leave the mask on a surface after you’ve worn it, there is a chance it could transfer the virus to that surface.
Rather than take any risks, wash the mask as soon as you’ve finished wearing it for the day.
Also, when you go to wash your mask, try not to touch your face.
Hand Washing
Some masks are hand–wash only, while other masks are machine washable. You’ll want to check with the supplier of your mask for their recommendations.
Washing a cloth face mask by hand is really easy. You can wash it in a sink using warm, but not scalding hot, water. Just add a bit of either soap or detergent—enough that there is definite bubbling and frothing happening throughout the mask as you lather it. If your mask has a removable filter, like ours does, you should remove this and wash it along with your mask.
A minute or two is a good safe amount of time to spend washing the mask. That’s it.
Machine Washing
Some masks, including ours, are machine washable, but we still prefer to wash them in the sink. It’s a big waste of water to run a mask though a washable machine if it’s not going through with a full load. If you do plan to wash your mask in a washing machine, wash on cold or medium heat.
Drying
Air drying is the way to go. Set the damp mask on a towel overnight and it’ll be ready to wear again in the morning. Don’t dry your mask in the dryer, as this can irreparably damage it.
Quick Fixes
If you’re in a jam and don’t have access to a sink or some way to wash your mask, what’s the best thing to do? We suggest taking a disinfectant wipe to all surfaces of your mask. Less thorough than washing with soap, but certainly better than doing nothing.
A few extra tips:
For a brief video on face mask care, please got to https://www.scdhec.gov/covid-19-proper-face-mask-usage
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