First, wash your hands well before using the mask. Then, depending on the mask model, put the elastics behind the ears or tie the laces behind the head and neck. Finally, pinch the stiff edge at the nose, if there is one, and lower the mask below the chin.
Then, for surgical-type anti-splash masks, you must:
- Place the mask on the face with the rigid edge up and tie it off;
- Pinch the nose clip with both hands to adjust it to the level of the nose;
- Lower the bottom of the mask under the chin;
- Once adjusted, no longer touch the mask with your hands.
For respiratory protection masks, FFP2 (normally reserved for nursing staff)
- Place the mask on the face, the nose clip on the nose;
- Hold the mask and pass the elastics behind the head without crossing them;
- Pinch the nose clip with both hands to adjust it to the level of the nose;
- Check that the mask is on correctly. To do this, it is necessary to check its tightness:
- Cover the filtering surface of the mask using a plastic sheet held in place with both hands;
- Inhale: the mask must be lightly crushed on the face, otherwise it is not waterproof and it must be readjusted;
- Once adjusted, no longer touch the mask with your hands.
After removing the mask, wash your hands well as well
How to correctly position the surgical mask with a blue side and a white side?
Disposable surgical masks have a blue (or colored) face and a white face. To put on this mask properly, the blue side (or colored if it is not blue) must be on the outside and the white side on the side of the mouth. The white side being the absorbent side. Layer face masks are very secure and easy to use.
What are the things not to do when wearing a mask?
- The mask should not be put in the waiting position on the forehead or under the chin during and after use.
- Do not touch the mask once it has been properly positioned on the face.
- It should not be put in the pocket or handbag for example after being worn. But always put it in an insulated bag (a freezer bag for example) and clean for washable masks.
- Disposable masks should not be reused, which are therefore for single use.
With a mouth mask, you cover your nose and mouth. When you sneeze, cough or talk, droplets are released. The mask retains them: you therefore avoid infecting another person. Wearing a mask is therefore especially useful to protect others. You can even buy the washable or reusable face masks in Australia from Stay-safe.com.
Wearing a mask is compulsory for people from 12 years old:
- in public transport as soon as you enter the airport, train station, on the platform or a stopping point, in the bus, (pre) metro, tram, train or any other means of transport organized by a public authority. However, the rolling staff of public transport companies is not obliged to cover their mouths and noses, provided on the one hand that the driver is well insulated in a cabin and on the other hand that a poster and / or a sticker indicates to users the reason why the driver is not wearing a mask;
- in markets, including flea markets and flea markets, and funfairs for merchants, fairgrounds and visitors;
- for professionals working as a contact person and their clients. The client’s mask may only be removed by the client for a specific facial treatment and only for the time strictly necessary for this treatment;
- for room staff in horeca establishments;
- for kitchen staff in catering establishments;
- for customers of catering establishments, except when they are seated at their own table;
- in stores and shopping centers;
- in shopping streets and any private or public place with high traffic, determined by the competent municipal authorities and delimited by a display specifying the hours to which the obligation applies;
- in cinemas, theaters, concert halls or conference halls, auditoriums, places of worship, museums and libraries;
- in casinos and automatic gaming halls;
- in parts accessible to the public of public buildings;
- during civil marriages, burials and cremations, the collective exercise of worship and the collective exercise of non-confessional moral assistance as well as the activities of a non-confessional philosophical association;
- events
What to do with my disposable mask after use?
After use, put the mask in a dedicated garbage bag. The bag must be carefully closed and then stored for 24 hours. After this period, it must be thrown into the bin which collects non-recyclable household waste (green bin).
It is recommended to throw it away after these hours of use or as soon as it gets wet or damaged, but not just anyhow.
To remove a mask and throw it away, you must:
- Wash your hands, before and after, and remove the mask by touching only the laces or elastics, without touching the front, which is potentially contaminated.
- Put it in a small dedicated plastic bag, or even in a second packaging if the first bag is torn.
- The government recommends that once this bag is full, it must be “carefully closed, then kept for 24 hours.”
- After 24 hours, it should be disposed of in the household garbage bag.
Single-use masks (such as tissues, wipes and gloves) should not be put in the recyclable waste bin or yellow bin, warns the government.
