How to better fit your face mask for COVID-19 protection

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently updated its guidelines on how to ensure that your face mask provides maximum protection against COVID-19. Although the recommendations do not deviate much from previous guidelines, they are more specific.

One theme is consistent in the guidance: A good fit is crucial. The CDC specifically recommends that your mask “fits snugly against your face” to protect you and others from exposure to respiratory droplets that can infect you with the new coronavirus, especially as new, more contagious variants of the virus spread across the country. .

The emphasis on wearing a mask follows recently released research that found that tying buttons on the ruffles and sides of disposable masks and the face covering of dust over surgical masks (also known as double masks) , offers better protection against COVID-19 than a single layer cloth cover or a weak medical mask alone.

Remember: Your face mask is supposed to act as a barrier. If it does not fit well, “you do not breathe by the mask – you mostly breathe around there, ”says William Schaffner, MD, an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “And if you do not breathe through your mask, viruses in the air can infect you or others.”

How to make sure your face mask fits properly

Your face mask should contain at least two layers of breathable fabric and completely cover your nose and mouth, stretch tightly over your cheeks and fit under your chin, says the CDC. If you have to adjust your mask, it does not fit well.

Unfortunately, there is no one-time mask. “Every person has a different face profile,” says Juan Hinestroza, Ph.D., associate professor of fiber science at Cornell University. “There is no one-size-fits-all mask.”

But experts say there are a few things you can do to test the fit of your mask and adjust it accordingly. Just a head up, according to Hinestroza: the popular ‘candle test’ (where you put on your mask to see if you can blow out a candle) is not one of them. While this will help you see if the substance in your mask is blocking air coming out of your mouth, it may not be able to detect the air leaking from the sides of your mask (or through) due to a bad fit.

It is also important to note how your mask feels on your face. “Take your time to put it on – this is the critical time,” says Dr. Schaffner, since you should not make noise with your mask once it is on your face. Try these tests at home to make sure you fit in:

This can be a problem for people with smaller face profiles. “Feel around your mask to see how snug it fits,” says Amesh A. Adalja, MD, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Safety. Again, the mask should sit firmly over the bridge of the nose, the sides of your cheeks and under the chin. If you can stick a finger on the sides of your mask, it is not tight enough.

✔️ Pass check: Start with freshly washed hands to eliminate the gaps. Then fold your mask in half, tie a knot in each loop as close as possible to the corner of the mask and then sew the sides into it. The TikTok below from Olivia Cuid, MD, a dentist in Montreal, provides excellent step-by-step instructions on how to do exactly that.

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The air inside your mask should feel warm against your skin, says dr. Schaffner. If you feel cooler air currents, there are gaps in your mask, or you do not have enough layers in your mask to filter properly.

✔️ Pass check: If you have covered all the gaps on the sides of your mask (or not at the beginning), consider double-masking, especially if you are in a high-risk area, such as in a busy public bus or a crowded grocery store. The CDC specifically recommends wearing a cloth face mask on top of a disposable surgical mask so that the bottom mask can serve as a filter. It is important to remember that you should always be able to see and breathe freely when wearing two face masks.

This is a common test done with N95 respirators to make sure it fits well. Carriers are asked if they smell anything while using the mask. It’s unlikely that a cloth face mask will completely block your ability to smell things if you wear them, but ‘you will have a muffled sense of smell while wearing your mask,’ says Dr. Schaffner.

✔️ Pass check: You can experiment by smelling a strong scent, such as a lemon or orange, at arm’s length before putting on your mask. Then smell again when you wear your mask. The scent should be at least less powerful if your mask has enough layers and fits properly over the nose and mouth.

If you wear glasses, foggy lenses are an indication that you do not fit well around your nose, says Hinestroza. If you do not have glasses on prescription at home, sunglasses can also work for this test. Simply put on your mask, breathe and see if your glasses are missing.

Pas️ Pass check: If you have foggy glasses, fit the nose wire tightly over the bridge of the nose and tighten the straps to ensure that there are no gaps in your mask between your cheeks and eyes. Are you still struggling? The CDC says that you can also use a mask decorator, a solid or silicone device that you wear on your mask (like this one) to prevent air from seeping through the edges. It should be around the outside of your mask, does not fit on the inside like mask brackets, which experts currently do not recommend.

This article is accurate from press time. As the COVID-19 pandemic develops rapidly and the scientific community’s understanding of the new coronavirus develops, some information may have changed since it was last updated. As we strive to keep all our stories up to date, please visit the online resources provided by the CDC, WHO, and yours local department of public health to stay up to date with the latest news. Always talk to your doctor for professional medical advice.

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