[ardy42]

> Helps remind you not to touch your face [and precludes direct touch to mouth and nose--where mucus membranes are vulnerable].

I like these instructional videos about how to put masks on and take them off, because they emphasize that you should be washing your hands when you put the masks on and take them off.

How to Put on a Surgical Mask: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWnTCZWYOBw

N95 3M mask: How to Wear & Remove: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoxpvDVo_NI

The mask won't do as much good if you just end up transferring the virus to your face after taking it off.

[ethagknight]

If the virus is present on your mask, it most likely would have already been in your body without the mask.

NNTaleb: Asymmetry: error FROM NOT wearing masks is vastly costlier than the error FROM wearing masks.

https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/1244976894686179328?s=21

EDIT- I think I wasn’t clear— mask is critical protection, and the risk of infection from wearing one incorrectly is far lower than not having one at all. I was just responding to the final paragraph that the mask doesn’t do much good if transferred from mask to mouth during removal— very true, but it also reduces the quantity of the virus ingested.

[dragontamer]

> If the virus is present on your mask, it most likely would have already been in your body without the mask.

On the contrary. The virus is on the mask. That's why doctors / nurses wear masks, so that the virus gets stuck in the mask instead of in the doctor.

Now that the virus is on the mask, you need to treat it as if it were a contaminated object.