When should you be wearing a mask?
One of the things that coronavirus has done is of making everyone falsely believe that they MUST wear masks. And so masks are flying off the shelves and taking away important resources from health care professionals. This can turn into a nationwide crisis, if not handled in time. We try to list down people who really need masks.
Did you know, there is solid data that proves your chances of getting infected by coronavirus by touching contaminated surface is more than air droplets of the infected? So a better and more effective thing to do is to maintain hand hygiene and respiratory hygiene. So now let us see who really needs the mask:
1 – Wear it if you have flu symptoms
You need to wear a mask if you are coughing and sneezing and showing symptoms of the flu to contain the spread and protect those around you.
2 – Wear it if you are around a person who is affected
You need to wear a mask if you have someone around you who is showing symptoms of the flu; he may or may not be a confirmed case.
3 – Wear if you are going out and suffer from underlying health conditions
If you are above the age of 60 and suffering from underlying health conditions like diabetes, heart issues and others, you need to stay protected since you fall in the vulnerable category. Many of these people have to regularly visit a hospital and they cannot be exposed to harmful viruses.
Also read: Coronavirus: Rumors and facts: WHO
4 – Wear if you are a medical healthcare professional
Most importantly, if our healthcare team is facing shortage of such hygiene essentials, we stand the risk of faster spread of this virus, since they come in contact with the infected and others too most often.
Please remember, if healthcare providers don’t get masks, the risk of spreading coronavirus in communities become higher.
5 – Coronavirus prevention
Here are the three categories of people who need to wear a mask.
Category-1: People with symptoms of coronavirus (Cough, fever or difficulty in breathing)
Category-2: People who are caring for suspected / confirmed patient
Category-3: Health workers attending to patients with respiratory symptoms
