How to Safely use your Face Mask or Face Shield

After receiving your mask or shield from Inked, you might be wondering how to use one of these things: What are the proper ways to care for them? How often should you wash them? And many more questions surrounding masks. After all, we’re attempting to protect ourselves from something that’s invisible! You kind of have to use your imagination when dealing with a global pandemic such as this. This blog has been written to give you some helpful tips and ideas on how to be careful using this new tool that you purchased to help fight the spread of Covid-19.

1. Use this mask once, then wash it!
2. Sanitize your hands before putting on your mask.
3. Sanitize your hands after taking off the mask. Make sure your mask goes straight into the wash after you take it off.
4. When wearing the mask, don’t touch your face (a good practice to not touch your face ever, but we all do from time to time).
5. Continue to practice social distancing even while wearing the mask, and stay at least 6 feet away from others.
6. Wash your mask on low, and hang to dry. (If you need the mask quickly, we have found drying the mask in the dryer on low tumble works too!)
7. Adhere to all WHO, CDC, and your state government warnings and rules during this time. 
8. Do not wear them all day! These masks are for going into a place where other people are, getting your shopping done, and getting out. 
9. While wearing a mask for an extended period of time, do not move them down onto your chin, on your forehead, or anywhere else! Anytime you touch the mask or move it other than to take it off for the day, increases your chances of the mask not doing anything to protect you or others.
10. Here is the safest way to purchase groceries with your mask or shield:

• Arrive at the store. While still in your car, apply hand sanitizer. Put your mask on.
• Open your car door, and sanitize your hands again since you were just touching your face.
• Once into the store, make sure your shopping cart has been sanitized.
• Do not touch an item until you are sure you are going to purchase it.
• Do not handle your cell phone while getting groceries to help prevent contaminating other things.
• Make sure you are staying 6 feet apart from people at all times. Wait patiently for other shoppers to move out of the way for you to proceed.
• In line, make sure you are keeping enough space between you and the person checking out ahead of you. Try your best to have the cashier place the divider between groceries so that you don’t handle that.
• While purchasing groceries, keep your credit card out of your wallet and in your pocket. Don’t put your card back into your wallet after purchasing so that you don’t contaminate your wallet. Pay and then place it back into your pants pocket.
• After getting back to your car, open your door and sanitize your hands.
• Remove your mask, and place it on your car’s floor carefully. Treat it like there are viral particles on there.
• Sanitize your hands. Start your car. You made it!
• For tips on disinfecting your groceries when you arrive home, please check out this extremely informative video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmoBI5m2_uw 

• You can apply these same strategies to your other errands that need to be done during this pandemic as well!  

As stated in the above video, a great strategy is to pretend everything from outside has glitter on it. You can’t see the glitter, but it’s there! We’re gamers here at Inked so it’s been pretty easy for many of us to implement this strategy to great effect. It’s like hot lava on the floor that you used to play as a kid...except glitter on your groceries! Keep them clean!

As for your masks, after using them once, it is in your best interest to wash, wash wash them! We’re all going to all this trouble to get these masks, we have to make sure we are using them correctly and educating others on how important it is to use these things correctly! 

Until next time, let’s all keep our spirits up, stay safe, and get through this together.

Mitch Gross

Inked Gaming

Mitch Gross, an employee of Inked Gaming, has a 4-year Public Health degree from Oregon State University and has a passion for epidemiology and mental health in addition to his love for everything gaming related.