How to properly wear a face mask

Wearing a face mask in public is now mandatory in California, and many cities around the country. Here's how to do it properly.

Transcript

00:00The mask has an outside which is blue, it has an inside which is white, it has a top

00:06which has a metal bar on the inside, and it has a bottom which is soft. The proper

00:11way to put it on is never touch the outside of the mask. Grab it by the very

00:16top, hold on to the bar, pinch the bar on your nose, grab the ear loops, put them

00:22over your ears, pull the bottom part over your chin. Now your nose is covered, your

00:28mouth is covered, your chin is covered. So from the side it looks like this. Now to

00:35take the mask off when you want to go eat, because people say, hey doc can I eat

00:39like this with a straw through my mask? No! You grab hold of the ear loop on one

00:44side, grab the ear loop on the other, pull it off, not touching the outside of the

00:50mask. And I like to fold the mask in half on itself, the outside part, so that way

00:57all you have left is the inside part. Now you can put it in a paper bag, go

01:02wash your hands for 20 more seconds, come back and eat. That way you can take the

01:06mask out and put it back on, reversing the process. Pinch it on your nose, around

01:13your ears, grab the bottom part, and there you have it. Now a lot of people say, hey

01:18doc, what about this? Can I go like that because it's easier to breathe? No, you

01:23can't go like that unless you have a COVID negative nose, plus it's unsightly

01:27if you sneeze. Or some people say, hey doc, what about putting it over here? No,

01:33that's not okay either. I mean you don't need a drool catcher unless you want to

01:37keep your shoes clean. I mean some people actually say, hey doc, I want to go eat,

01:44can I do this? No, you can't do that unless you're eating hot dogs. Listen,

01:52always wash your hands before and after you handle a mask. And you can disinfect

01:57the cloth masks if you wear them for a couple days. Just wash them in a washer

02:01and dry them in a dryer, that'll work. But in this instance, these are paper masks

02:06and if you wash them, they'll get all mushy. So you can disinfect them if you

02:12leave them out in the sun, in the ultraviolet light for a while. But now

02:15these are plentiful and they're pretty much, you know, one use and then throw

02:20them away. So I wear them for, you know, the day when I go outside, then I toss

02:23them. Anyway, I hope this helped. I'm Dr. Bill. Please stay safe.