KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Doctors say choose function over fashion when picking a face mask.
As the pandemic continues to grip the world and more municipalities, like Kansas City, Missouri, extend mask mandates, manufacturers are getting more creative with their face masks.
Some creators use leather and plastic, others use knitted fabrics or add valves and vents.
One California man went viral when he built a mask with lights that mimic the movements of your lips. He’s now raising money to turn the “Jabbermask” from a prototype to a product.
Across the internet, you can find masks shaped like bird beaks or other designs.
Doctors with the University of Kansas Health System said some of those masks can be effective.
The hospital and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared these baseline items any mask should include in order to be effective in slowing the spread of COVID-19:
- Masks should fit snugly around the chin, mouth and nose without any gaps on the sides along cheeks.
- Masks should be made with breathable fabrics like cotton, not leather or plastic.
- Fabrics should be tightly woven, light should not pass through the material when you hold it to a lightbulb.
- Masks should have two or three layers of fabric.
- Do not use masks with exhalation valves or vents, unless there is a filtering material in the vent.
- Non-medical disposable masks are appropriate.
“The biggest thing is to understand the concept that you want that barrier from your nasal passages and your mouth so that when you are breathing, laughing, yelling, there is that barrier protection there against any virus that may be expressed down to the environment,” explained Dr. Dana Hawkinson, University of Kansas Health System’s medical director of infection control and prevention.
The CDC recommends anyone over the age of two wear a mask. It has detailed guidelines on its website.
