Best mask / face covering

[coopasonic]

I do want to get a cloth mask or wrap for being out and about and I have yet to find a good mask for the gym/running.

Where's Zaxxon? He was running with a mask. Now that there are more and more people out when I am running I need to find a solution there too.

[stessier]

Now that there are more and more people out when I am running I need to find a solution there too.

I thought your solution was to look at your total yearly mileage and call it a day?

[coopasonic]

Now that there are more and more people out when I am running I need to find a solution there too.

I thought your solution was to look at your total yearly mileage and call it a day?

Wrong thread, but I will surpass my 2019 mileage on Saturday. This is a record setting year! Hell, this year I may pass the distance I did in two weeks in high school!

[naednek]

For a second I thought this was my father in law. Needs more white hair.

[Zarathud]

Mom makes our masks, being a retired seamstress. Star Wars, Cubs, Pokemon and animal print fabric. Even come with internal pockets for coffee filters if needed.

[Xmann]

I have a friend that bought a couple from the Purple Mattress he says are very comfortable and breathable. They are sold out our I would try them out.

I bought a couple from Thompson Tee. They are a moderate priced t-shirt company, who I previously hadn't heard of. So far they are comfortable and easy on my ears. I might grab a couple more to have as spares.

[LawBeefaroni]

I bought a couple from Thompson Tee. They are a moderate priced t-shirt company, who I previously hadn't heard of. So far they are comfortable and easy on my ears. I might grab a couple more to have as spares.

Just ordered 5 of these. The first recommendation that wasn't sold out or had a week+ wait.

I'm going through surgical masks way too fast. The blue ones are getting scarce so we have the yellow ones and they suck. They are basically one-time use at the gym, seems like a waste.

I actually spent 10 minutes stitching up a new surgical mask along the sides so it wouldn't tear in the first 5 minutes of wear. It's held up but not going to do that every time.

[LawBeefaroni]

BTW, just had a thought. Are we (Americans) finally going to wear masks during flu season, like much of Asia, when/if COVID isn't a driver?

[LordMortis]

BTW, just had a thought. Are we (Americans) finally going to wear masks during flu season, like much of Asia, when/if COVID isn't a driver?

Not this part of Americans. Call it media driven fear but the 20,000 (or even 50,000+ in a bad year) annual flu deaths is part of life. That's what shots are for (and pneumonia shots) are for. To mitigate my risk. I will say I'll be much more diligent about getting flu and pneumonia shots after COVID isn't a driver. It's the 130,000 and counting plus the unknown that sets COVID apart for me.

[LawBeefaroni]

BTW, just had a thought. Are we (Americans) finally going to wear masks during flu season, like much of Asia, when/if COVID isn't a driver?

Not this part of Americans. Call it media driven fear but the 20,000 (or even 50,000+ in a bad year) annual flu deaths is part of life. That's what shots are for (and pneumonia shots) are for. To mitigate my risk. I will say I'll be much more diligent about getting flu and pneumonia shots after COVID isn't a driver. It's the 130,000 and counting plus the unknown that sets COVID apart for me.

But I mean when you have mild fever or are feeling crap. Not for fear of getting sick but out of courtesy for not getting others sick.

[LawBeefaroni]

BTW, just had a thought. Are we (Americans) finally going to wear masks during flu season, like much of Asia, when/if COVID isn't a driver?

Not this part of Americans. Call it media driven fear but the 20,000 (or even 50,000+ in a bad year) annual flu deaths is part of life. That's what shots are for (and pneumonia shots) are for. To mitigate my risk. I will say I'll be much more diligent about getting flu and pneumonia shots after COVID isn't a driver. It's the 130,000 and counting plus the unknown that sets COVID apart for me.

But I mean when you have mild fever or are feeling crap. Not for fear of getting sick but out of courtesy for not getting others sick.

[stessier]

Not to get too R&P, but I think it will depend on who our leaders are and what the final outcome of COVID is (if it's a yearly flu-shot thing, a once every five years shot thing, or there is only ever treatment and no immune system booster).

[LordMortis]

But I mean when you have mild fever or are feeling crap. Not for fear of getting sick but out of courtesy for not getting others sick.

I stay home or if I can't I stay isolated and warn others to keep their distance. I always have. I have been known to take vacation days so I don't abuse sick days.

I get annoyed at others who don't observe those courtesies and end up like the cat from Pepe Le Pew. (My aversion to parents of young children coming in to work like it's nothing when they are "mildly" sick is something I'm vocal very vocal about)

Maybe I'll become the guy who annoys other people. I don't see me ever adapting to mask as a lifestyle unless I go from becoming the kind of immunocompromised I already am to the kind of immunocompormised MHS has become.

[Smoove_B]

BTW, just had a thought. Are we (Americans) finally going to wear masks during flu season, like much of Asia, when/if COVID isn't a driver?

I'm never not wearing a mask again. I'm going to be weird dude in a mask all the time.

[MHS]

I haven't worn one at all times in public for the last 2 years but I did always wear them on any form of public transportation, and in really obvious hot spots such as airports, movie theaters, and sometimes poker rooms. For the latter two, it depends on how crowded said area is and the layout. I don't know (or particularly care) if people think I'm a weirdo or not. I've only ever had one person ask about it (rudely) and a married couple loudly discussed with one another how if I was sick, I shouldn't be allowed on their plane (pre-COVID). I guess it is kind of nice that I won't be the weirdo anymore, but I'm bummed that my cute face masks are no longer special like they used to be.

[em2nought]

It will be nice to be able to wear one anytime my mother makes me take her to the germ infested hospital from now on, and not look like an oddball. I didn't much like going there pre-covid, and I certainly don't like going there now.

I might try some of these BoomerNaturals since I'm too cheap to get those Holy Land masks. https://boomernaturals.com/

Our Reusable 30-Day Face Masks are made with a cotton fabric blend, using cotton treated with silver nanoparticles that have an antibacterial effect. Our cotton/polyester blend is not only soft, lightweight and very comfortable, but the stable silver nanoparticles add an extra level of antibacterial protection!

[Blackhawk]

BTW, just had a thought. Are we (Americans) finally going to wear masks during flu season, like much of Asia, when/if COVID isn't a driver?

On a related note, I've wondered just how all the anit-COVID measures will affect all the usual infectious diseases that usually travel about. Cold season? Flu season? I bet it'll be fun data of the epidemiologists to sort through some day.

[LordMortis]

On a related note, I've wondered just how all the anit-COVID measures will affect all the usual infectious diseases that usually travel about. Cold season? Flu season? I bet it'll be fun data of the epidemiologists to sort through some day.

I know my workplace spent a lot of money and effort on sanitation stations and converting hi touch areas in to electronic touch free areas (love the water cooler and lights for example. Hate the sinks). They also spent not a lot of money but a whole lot of effort converting our still newish open office architecture into a giant buffet sneeze guard. I can imagine the sneeze guards will be removed and people allowed per area restrictions, daily thermal scans, and daily health questionnaires all going away but the sanitary stations and touch free environment staying. I also imagine I finally have work place where if you come in sick, they say "go home and work by VPN. We don't want you here." It's a long overdue fantasy with a catalyst that can't be denied.

[LordMortis]

When you wash your masks, do you dry them? Is it assumed everything is preshrunk, being cotton and all? I had worn each of my masks about three times as cycled through them. I figured it's washing time this weekend. Normally, I don't much are about the care of my washing other than "everything in cold (I was told to wash the mask in warm, my washer wasn't ecstatic with that, being the first time hot water has come through in very long time), lightly dry and hang everything." Caring about my laundry for extra sanitary (or any other) purpose is new to me.

[stessier]

When you wash your masks, do you dry them? Is it assumed everything is preshrunk, being cotton and all? I had worn each of my masks about three times as cycled through them. I figured it's washing time this weekend. Normally, I don't much are about the care of my washing other than "everything in cold (I was told to wash the mask in warm, my washer wasn't ecstatic with that, being the first time hot water has come through in very long time), lightly dry and hang everything." Caring about my laundry for extra sanitary (or any other) purpose is new to me.

I only wear the mask for one work day and then wash it (well, I collect a week's worth and wash them). We hang them to dry. Wash at night and they are dry by the morning - although it should be noted we are in air conditioning with a fan blowing on the drying racks.

[LordMortis]

Mine had been "airing out" for week or longer between wearings but three times was plenty enough.

[Blackhawk]

I wear mine once a week, and have only washed it once (accidentally - I left it in my pocket.) That may not be 'ideal', but nothing is likely to survive a week, and we're not wearing them to absorb others' germs, just our own. If enough COVID-19 is on the mask to require washing it to remove it, you're already infected.

[gilraen]

I wear mine once a week, and have only washed it once (accidentally - I left it in my pocket.) That may not be 'ideal', but nothing is likely to survive a week, and we're not wearing them to absorb others' germs, just our own. If enough COVID-19 is on the mask to require washing it to remove it, you're already infected.

If I wear the mask for longer than an hour or so, I'll wash it just because I don't want my face to break out next time I wear it. It's bad enough wearing it in the summer without all the extra sweat and moisture collecting between the fabric layers.

[ImLawBoy]

I wear mine once a week, and have only washed it once (accidentally - I left it in my pocket.) That may not be 'ideal', but nothing is likely to survive a week, and we're not wearing them to absorb others' germs, just our own. If enough COVID-19 is on the mask to require washing it to remove it, you're already infected.

If I wear the mask for longer than an hour or so, I'll wash it just because I don't want my face to break out next time I wear it. It's bad enough wearing it in the summer without all the extra sweat and moisture collecting between the fabric layers.

If it's more than just 5-10 minutes, that's what I do. We have a decent stockpile of masks (my wife wanted to try a number of styles, plus we've had crafty friends gift us a bunch) and we do (i.e., my wife does ) enough laundry that it's not a burden. We hang the masks to dry them.

[Blackhawk]

We have one mask each and no washer/dryer (we us a laundromat.)

[gilraen]

I just hand wash them in the sink with soap.

[Blackhawk]

Honestly, I don't feel the need. They're not visibly soiled after two hours of wear once a week. Eight weeks of wear is the equivalent of one day on a shirt. There isn't anything that's being filtered through them that isn't coming from me already, and isn't dead by the next time I put them on anyway. My face doesn't break out if I wear one twice. If they're dirty (IE - I notice anything visible on them, etc), I'll wash them, but simply taking a garment out of the drawer doesn't make it 'dirty.' Short of visible soiling, I'll likely wash all the family masks once every couple of months.

Once something happens to make their wear more regular (IE - kids starting school), that'll change.

[Scuzz]

When you wash your masks, do you dry them? Is it assumed everything is preshrunk, being cotton and all? I had worn each of my masks about three times as cycled through them. I figured it's washing time this weekend. Normally, I don't much are about the care of my washing other than "everything in cold (I was told to wash the mask in warm, my washer wasn't ecstatic with that, being the first time hot water has come through in very long time), lightly dry and hang everything." Caring about my laundry for extra sanitary (or any other) purpose is new to me.

I wear a couple during the week and then wash them on the weekend. They tend to stretch out a little and the washing (and drying) just returns them to a good tight fit.

[wonderpug]

Anyone happen to know a source for a 50 pack of disposable masks but not made in China?

[LawBeefaroni]

Anyone happen to know a source for a 50 pack of disposable masks but not made in China?

Here maybe? May have to wait a week or so.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Anyone happen to know a source for a 50 pack of disposable masks but not made in China?

Here y'go: Texas Mask Incorporated

[xwraith]

Here y'go: Texas Mask Incorporated

TMI?... I'll show myself out.

[dbt1949]

I must admit I'm not 100% convinced that masks are as useful as people say they are.
However, I will wear a mask when it is required.

[Jaymon]

We got some delicate's bag so we could dry the masks in the clothes dryer. Its good, keeps the strings and straps from getting caught on stuff and getting tangled.

[wonderpug]

I must admit I'm not 100% convinced that masks are as useful as people say they are.
However, I will wear a mask when it is required.

If you had to undergo surgery, would you care if the surgery team wore masks?

[dbt1949]

My body cut open and exposed to the room is different than walking around in Walmart.

[Blackhawk]

I must admit I'm not 100% convinced that masks are as useful as people say they are.
However, I will wear a mask when it is required.

If they were only 10% as useful as people say they are, they'd still save lives. And since me wearing one isn't about my life (it's to prevent me from accidentally killing other people), that's more than enough.

[wonderpug]

My body cut open and exposed to the room is different than walking around in Walmart.

The point is that you believe that masks will help prevent viruses going from the surgeon's mouth to you on the operating table. Doesn't it follow that masks would also help prevent viruses going from the mouth of a surgeon shopping at Walmart to you as you shop at Walmart?

[Daehawk]

I was in line at Dollar General and saw that Hanes is selling masks. They come in a 5 pack for $10. Black or white only.

[Anonymous Bosch]