Wearing a mask is an important protective measure against respiratory infections and can reduce the risk of new coronavirus infections, but wearing a mask repeatedly and for a long time not only fails to protect, but may also have the opposite effect.

Some people wear a mask for two or three days, especially the older generation always think that it is too wasteful to change masks, so they simply wear a mask repeatedly. In this case, the mask will be contaminated with some dust, bacteria, water vapor and saliva, if you can not do diligent change, these residual bacteria and viruses, not only can not play a protective, but also may play a counterproductive role.

Wearing masks for a long time also has certain harmful effects. With the extension of mask wearing time, the protection ability of masks decreases continuously, and the hot and humid mask environment is very suitable for bacteria proliferation, which increases the infringement of harmful substances on the skin. In addition, wearing a mask for a long time may cause the mucous membrane of the nose to lose its ability to increase temperature, and the cold air will stimulate the nasal mucosa, which will cause a cold if you are not careful.

How to wear a mask correctly?

1、Clean hands. Pay attention to daily hand hygiene and wash your hands when wearing and taking off the mask.

2. Identify the front and back. Before wearing the mask, please put the mask nose clip side up and dark side out. If the mask has no color difference, you can judge according to the mask folds, the folds down for the outside.

3. Tightly fit. When wearing a mask, place both hands fingers in the middle of the metal nose clip, press inward while moving the fingertips along both sides of the nose clip, until the nose clip is completely close to the nose, and the mask fits completely with the face, leaving no gap. At the same time quickly inhale, check whether the air leaks from the edge of the mask including the bridge of the nose, and then adjust the nose clip.

4. Anti-splash. Sneezing or coughing without taking off the mask, can be replaced in due course; if not used to, can take off the mask, but need to use tissue or elbow to cover the mouth and nose.

5, diligent replacement. When the mask is deformed, wet or dirty, resulting in reduced protective performance, it is recommended to immediately replace the mask with a new one to avoid affecting the protective effect. The cumulative wearing time of each mask should not exceed 8 hours. In cross-regional public transportation or hospitals and other environments used masks, it is not recommended to reuse.

6. Hanging put. When the mask is not in use, it should be hung in a clean, dry and ventilated place.

7, discomfort removed. If you feel stuffy, short of breath and other discomfort during wearing the mask, you should immediately go to an open and ventilated place to remove the mask.

8、Carry a spare. Carry a spare mask when you go out and store it in the original bag or a clean storage bag to avoid extrusion and deformation. In addition to single-use medical masks and medical surgical masks, it is recommended to stock up on protective masks.

9. Protect young children. When helping children to organize their masks, do a good job of hand hygiene. Do not touch the child's mask, face or head with unclean hands. (Xu Liang)