Washing your masks

It's been revealed this week that you can wash disposable masks, and reuse them. The current advice from the Ministry of Health is that disposable masks should be used once then thrown away.

A group led by Dr Richard Everts in Nelson put together a study on whether disposable masks could be washed and reused. It turns out that disposable masks washed 10 times still did a better job at filtering virus-sized particles than did cloth masks.

Cloth masks have become a bit of a fashion statement, which is unfortunate as they're really not effective (though better than nothing).

The best way to wash the masks is with hot water. Using detergents and soaps degrades the filter. Washing in hot water by hand, then hanging out to dry in the sun was the most effective method.

While it seems unlikely that masses of people are going to take up the practise of washing and reusing their masks, it is definitely a boon for places where masks are in short supply or expensive to obtain, such as developing countries.

New Zealand Consumer has a good summary of the research.