It has been universally agreed upon and established that wearing a mask/ face covering is one of the easiest and basic ways to protect yourself during this pandemic. The CDC recommends that everyone - even those who are seemingly ‘healthy’ should wear a mask when venturing out. But which TYPE of mask is actually recommended to protect us against COVID19?

1. N95 RESPIRATORS- These masks offer the strongest and best protection since they are capable of filtering about 95% of airborne particles including bacteria and viruses. However, there is a worldwide shortage of these masks, hence it is best left to the frontline healthcare workers and others in a healthcare setting. In short- please do not hoard these masks for your trips to the supermarket or to meet people socially- there are others who need it more. 

2. SURGICAL MASKS- Before this pandemic, we dentists would only need to wear these masks for our clinical work. These masks are recognisable by the 3 ply design and blue (green or pink) outer layer. They are designed to block splashes and large particle droplets that are usually expelled when someone coughs or sneezes. They do offer some protection but can be loose-fitting if you don’t have the right size and are unable to block smaller particles.

3. FFP1 MASK- These masks are considered an equivalent to the N95, however they do not offer as much protection as the N95. They are mainly used to block out dust particles and offer a tighter fit as compared to the Surgical Masks.

4. SPONGE MASK- Similar to makeshift cloth masks in terms of virus protection. Good for fashion, not a pandemic.

5. CLOTH MASK- These masks obviously will not keep viruses out, however, they will prevent sick people from infecting others as they can physically block the particles and liquids which are expelled during a cough or a sneeze. The CDC says wearing a cloth mask is still preferable to having no protection at all.

There is also a lot of debate on wearing masks which have valves. The valve masks may offer some protection to the wearer but not others around them. If you are sick and wear a valved mask, there is a high possibility that you can infect people around you and that’s NOT OKAY!

So in short- WEAR A MASK. Please don’t be one of those people who think that they can’t get sick or that no one can get sick because of them. Our healthcare system is crumbling with reports of preventable deaths everyday. So let us not burden the very people and system that can save us in our hour of need. If they can wear an entire PPE suit and work for hours and days on end then you can definitely wear a mask for a couple of minutes or hours! The faster we follow these basic rules, the faster we can go back to ’normal’.