About Gloves and Masks

These may not be as helpful as one would think, mainly because they require the proper donning and disposal procedure to be effective.

Gloves

Remember that the virus needs to reach your mucus membrane (eyes, nose, or mouth) to infect you and replicate. If you touch your face with contaminated gloves they accomplish nothing. So you’d have to change gloves often, or wash them, to get the protection.

Contaminated gloves will also transfer virus to other surfaces, just as touching with contaminated hands would.

For these reasons, gloves are not recommended for protection when shopping or other everyday activities. Clinical use by professionals is a very different matter and they are trained to use them properly.

If you decide to use rubberized kitchen gloves when cleaning and sanitizing, be sure to sanitize the gloves before removing them.

Masks

When worn by an infected person, masks help to contain the tiny droplets of virus-laden fluid exhaled while breathing, sneezing, or coughing. When worn by a caregiver they afford some protection against inhaling these droplets. Either use causes one surface of the mask to become contaminated. For this reason, use of a mask requires care in handling to avoid spreading the virus. Healthcare professionals know the drill.

Since the masks are disposable and in short supply for the healthcare workers whose safety depends on using them, non-caregivers are discouraged from buying and using them.

Some websites offer instructions for sewing masks from scraps of fabric. Reuse of a mask requires sterilization. I imagine you could steam a mask, or dry it in a clothes dryer, or wash it, to sanitize it for reuse. But I don’t know how you verify that it still works like new. In the end you are left wondering if you should rely upon a mask for protection, or simply practice social distancing and hygiene to protect yourself and others.