As the pandemic arose, many people bought a huge bulk of respirators. In contrast, others could not get the opportunity to purchase any. In this case, many people had to rely on dust masks or cloth masks to protect themselves from COVID-19. It was being thought that dust masks work the same way as the medical respirators do. But this is merely is a misconception to people who realize what do respirators protect against. But the question many are pondering is whether general masks or dust masks protect from the deadly virus? A dust mask is made of a flexible paper-like material pad held over the nose and mouth with the help of elastic straps that wrap around your ears. These masks are mainly suitable for protecting non-toxic dust particles. But it is not built to protect harmful diseases that travel on air. They may protect from certain natural allergens like grass or tree pollen, and that is nearly it. These masks are also to be replaced after 8 hours and not used repeatedly. As dust masks are not tightly fitted to the face, they can bring in unfiltered air from the sides, which can harm the wearer if the air contains COVID particles.
Well, many medical experts strongly suggest that one should make sure of wearing medical masks when going out in public. A mask that tightly fits the face must be worn to exclude any possibility of the wearer getting sick. But a dust mask or a cloth mask does not necessarily protect you from the virus. The most 20functionality that these masks can provide is that they act as preventative measures that help already ill people to protect those that are around you. These masks keep the contagious disease restrained to only the person wearing the cloth mask in the chance that he is sick already.
But if you are using dust masks in the protection of COVID-19, then you must make sure that the cloth fits tightly and entirely on your face leaving no space fro air particles to come through unfiltered. The mask or dust protectant must be covering your nose completely. However, these masks do not provide you protection against deadly viruses entering into your system through breathing. These masks are only used to protect against dust particles and environmental pollution of such type. To have a safer option against COVID-19, you must use medical masks of N95 that are made especially for the cause.