GREENSBORO, N.C. — You have the mask on and you have to sneeze. The thought of sneezing inside the mask doesn't sound great. But do you take it off and sneeze into your elbow? Do you sneeze into your mask and then keep wearing that mask?
“The short answer is to sneeze with your mask on and into your elbow,” explained Dr. David Jordan, Alamance Regional Chief Medical Officer. “If you take your mask off you defeat the purpose of why you've been wearing the mask all day. And if you just sneeze into your elbow, you defeat the purpose of the mask catching the droplets.”
Should you ditch the mask once you sneeze in it? Dr. Jordan says if you can great but if not, a damp mask is better than none.
Another FAQ is: Do cloth and paper masks give you the same protection?
“The paper masks have generally been found to be more effective in capturing the virus droplets and particles,” said Dr. Jordan. “ The cloth masks are often made with one layer of fabric. The more layers of fabric the better the filtration, but the hotter the mask is and the harder it is to breathe.”
Dr. Jordan again says any kind of mask is better than none.