Good hygiene? After all, you are getting bodily fluids on them. Would you use a fabric handkerchief without regular washing?

I have wondered why there was no suggestions that I have found to wash your face when you return home. The virus is airborne. People tend to adjust the masks so they would be touching parts of their face.

Something to think about when hanging masks outside especially for days is the amount of dust and pollen in the air. Both can be microscopic and not easily shaken of the masks. Putting the mask back on could irritate your skin or if you are allergic to the pollen that is currently in your air irritate your eyes.

Oak trees are starting to bloom here and anything that is left outside will shortly have a coating of bright yellow.

I just hang my disposable surgical masks (that I had a box of for many years before the virus) in the garage between wearings. I have about a dozen, and only go out once every week or two, so they can hang and decontaminate for a few weeks between wearings. No sunshine involved. I do the same with disposable gloves. I just hang them outside or in the garage for a few weeks, then reused them. No sense in throwing away perfectly good, barely worn gloves. I could wash them with disinfectant, but see no reason and would worry about weakening the rubber with chemicals.

I always wash my face when coming inside from yard work, gardening, hiking, especially during high pollen counts. And I gargle with Listerine during allergy season.

I'm more cautious this year than ever. Now i wear Nitrile gloves under my yard work gloves. Paranoid. :)

We have several homemade masks (dozens) we bought from a college student, and launder them as needed.

We have two surgical masks. Both look just the same as they did when new. Guess we are not 'heavy breathers'. I've worn mine only once, to the hospital for lab and chemo at the end of March. DH has worn one four times, for grocery shopping. I've hung his in a corner of the back hall where the sun hits it.

I'd really love to have one N95 to wear when I have to go for chemo once a month -- my only 'outing', but to a more perilous place.

Am I correct in thinking that the paper surgicals are superior to a cloth mask?

You might find THIS ARTICLE of interest as it talks about an actual study of materials used in masks and their effectiveness.

The original question is, "Why launder cloth masks or discard surgical ones?"

Yes, the main purpose for wearing the mask these days is to protect others, rather than protecting yourself from others, but there is still the possibility that the virus or other pathogens might get on the mask while you're wearing it. Laundering the cloth mask in hot water and soap will kill/remove the "bad stuff." Otherwise, if you simply remove it and then handle it again to wear it again, you could be contaminating yourself when putting it on. Has it been proven that simply hanging a mask in the sun, even for "a few days" will fully decontaminate it?

I read an article this morning about The Best Coronavirus Face Mask Materials. It's on the Huffington Post website.

I spray my mask with Lysol and leave it on the porch until I need it again. It has been 26 days since my last visit to town.

Thanks, all. I knew I could count on my KT friends. I especially appreciate the links to the Huff Post where materials are rated.

Maybe I can beg more surgicals from the hospital! (Looks like I could make something useful out of our Melitta filters in a pinch.) We do handle only the 'ear parts'. I'm not concerned with 'decontaminating' a mask from my own breath, and I doubt that a mask has more of anything on the exterior portion than the rest of my clothing.

Some of the materials they tested may filter well, but if you can't inhale *through* them, aren't you actually forcing air around the edges -- defeating the purpose?

About cloth masks -- I have three each for DH and me. As we use them, I wash/dry them with my laundry because soap and water, and the heat of the dryer, will kill coronavirus.

We are fortunate -- we only have to be around people when we're shopping, once a week or so. People who have to work close to the general public would be well advised to wash masks and possibly clothes daily, as they return to their homes.

Yet another article (this one convinced me masks are worth it): saving your health one mask at a time

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2020/04/07/everything-you-need-to-know-about-wearing-masks-until-the-cdc-tells-us-more/#4216ba094bdb

nickel -- What a calm, useful article. Thanks!

wildchild -- Forbes wouldn't let me 'in', but thank you.

I just think that if you are using a fabric face mask, you would launder it just like you would other cloths you use for things like coughing and sneezing. It's rather the point of it being a washable fabric mask rather than a disposable other mask.

You should regularly launder the clothes you sneeze/cough into the crook of your elbow of. Used handkerchiefs too. Or scarves and so on. If you can launder it, do it. The point is the soap+agitation in hot water cleans/sloughs/kills off the ick you breathe on your side of the mask, and also whatever might get stuck outside too... like pollens, or just dang, your hand and face oils from pressing/adjusting your mask.

How to clean your face mask to help prevent getting and spreading the coronavirus

I wash mine after I wear it as I'm breathing into it and I may have unconsciously touched the mask while I was in the store so potentially contaminating it.

I wash by hand in dawn in very hot water then hang to dry.

Chisue, the two towns to the south of us require everyone to wear a mask in public. I imagine our town will soon, too. I’m still doing the homemade, bandana-and-pony-tail-holder, but now I keep one in the car and one in my purse. I hung one outside in the sun, but then I forgot about it for a couple of days, and nights!

chisue -- yes, that article made me feel much calmer, more confident that I'm doing the right thing to keep self, family and society safe. The sooner we all figure it out, the sooner we can open up to a new normal. Until we get a vaccine or treatment and can get back to a normal normal!

I just feel like I have to remind everyone, if you can’t find a mask, order a pack of sleep masks from Amazon. Pull them down over your nose and mouth. Twelve pack for ten dollars.

A friend who made a lot of masks for healthcare workers told me that she used a steam iron when making the pleats, and now she steams her own masks after she wearing because the steam itself is sterilizing.

"The virus is airborne." Maifleur, where's your evidence for that? It's my understanding that the virus is only airborne for as long as it takes a sneeze to settle.

Colleen where's your confusion? 6ft distance is best practice for avoiding the airborne..but a breeze..who knows where this blows!!! The virus enters through mucus membranes...so those of you with your eyes exposed when out and about....something to think about!!

If I thought the breeze was randomly blowing covid-19 virii around, arcy, I'd hermetically seal my house up.

I shower every single day when I come home from work. I rinse my hair with cream rinse, use soap and water on the rest of me. I wash my uniform right away. Then I clean everything I touched before my shower to ensure that *if* I brought the virus home, I washed it away. That is what you're supposed to do. Wash your reusuable home made masks and dry them in a HOT dryer. Toss the surgical ones never reuse them.