The COVID-19 pandemic has gotten people to adopt various methods of protecting themselves against the virus and the primary method is by wearing a face mask. The face mask acts as a barrier between the face and the pollutants and germs that are in the air. Given the high demand for face masks companies around the globe have started to manufacture them in the thousands.

There are two primary distinctions in face masks, one mask which has a breathing valve/filter attached to it and is a bulge on the mask and the second mask has no breathing valve/filter on it. People believe that the mask with the valve/filter is better suited to protect one from pollutants while containing one’s own breath and this is only partially true. The mask with the breathing valve/filter does prevent the wearer from breathing in pollutants but it does not filter one’s own breath from while breathing out. The valve/filter acts as an escape route for one's own breath, so if you sneeze or cough it is highly likely that the people around would be breathing in your fly germs.

Doctors from all over the world recommend that people who wear the face mask should wear the ones which do not have the filters/ breathing valves as it may do a good job of protecting you but it does not protect people around you.

The COVID-19 pandemic is here to stay and governments around the world are struggling to fight it and, in some cases, they have simply given up. How do citizens protect themselves and those around them? The answer to that is information and action taken based on the information. As the saying goes, “your mask protects me, my mask protects you,” so please use a valve-less mask to do your part in reducing transmission.