THE Department of Health (DOH) has once again reminded the public to properly wear facemasks while outside their homes as COVID-19 remains a threat.
“Wear your mask, hindi po nasa baba, dapat natatakpan po ang ilong at bibig,” said Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
DOH earlier announced that wearing facemasks outdoors, regardless of what type of community quarantine protocols were in place, would always be part of the new normal in the country in a bid to reduce its spread.
Allow us, however, to focus on a related concern which DOH appears to have missed — the proper disposal of facemasks, and particularly disposable facemasks. Do not to throw used ones recklessly. By the way, single-use facemasks are not meant to be recycled or reused for health and safety reasons.
The improper disposal of used masks may contaminate the surroundings with viruses or bacteria that can make people sick. As the coronavirus can live on surfaces for a number of days, discarded masks may become a potential source of infection. A new study published in the March 2020 issue of The Journal of Hospital Infection found that “human coronaviruses can remain infectious on inanimate surfaces for up to nine days.”
Also, the arbitrary disposal of used masks may end up polluting water bodies and harming marine life. Like the ubiquitous single-use plastic bags in the oceans, discarded masks may be mistaken as food by aquatic creatures, blocking their digestive tracts and affecting their growth, reproduction and survival.
The inappropriate disposal of used facemasks may lead, too, to irresponsible recycling and reusing of such masks. We recall the raid conducted on March 2 by the Thai police in a recycling factory in Saraburi province, Thailand that recycles and resells used face masks to cater for rising demand.
Health experts do not recommend reusing disposable face masks. According to a study by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in the US, “disposable masks and respirators do not lend themselves to reuse because they work by trapping harmful particles inside the mesh of fibers of which they are made.”
This hazardous build-up cannot be cleaned or disinfected without damaging the fibers or other components of the device such as the straps or nose clip, the study said.
If you wear a mask, then you must know how to use it and dispose of it properly.
