Covering up is part of the new normal

Writer: Hedda Mittner.

With the wearing of cloth face masks now mandatory for everyone leaving their homes during the current Level 4 lockdown, many more people of all ages will be looking for well-made, comfortable, washable and durable fabric / cloth face masks.

The guidelines from the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition for fabric / cloth face masks for general public use recommend these non-medical masks only as part of a broader strategy to curb the spread of COVID-19. Such masks are not a replacement for other recommended precautionary measures and should always be used in combination with handwashing, not touching one’s face, coughing or sneezing into a tissue or elbow and keeping a proper social distance of at least 1.5m from other people.

The shortage of medical-grade masks globally and in South Africa means that members of the general public should not use these critical resources at the expense of the frontline health workers. And although there has been much debate globally about the degree of protection that the use of cloth / fabric face masks can offer non-health care professionals, the evidence indicates that if the fabrics and filters are chosen suitably and are designed to fit users accordingly, these masks can play an important role in helping to reduce community transmission of the Coronavirus.

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