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Brits admit to wearing the same face mask up to 10 times before washing it
Others admitted to using the same mask for over a year
An eye-opening poll has revealed that a vast number of Brits are wearing the same face mask a number of times before washing or replacing it.
The poll, commissioned by government-listed Covid test provider Medicspot, surveyed 2,000 British adults and found that 46% of them ‘forget’ to wash their face masks on a regular basis and can wear the same one up to ten times.
A quarter of those surveyed also admitted to using the same mask for more than a year and only occasionally putting it in the washing machine.
25% of participants put the lack of washing down to the fact they are wearing their masks less than they were a year ago, while another 13% claimed to be worried about their masks being too fragile for the washing machine.
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The survey also found that one in five Brits only have one face mask to wear, meaning if they washed it, they wouldn’t have a back up to go out with.
However, others put their overall mask use down to politicians, with 29% saying they would be more likely to wear a face covering if MPs wore their own covering when seen out and about in public settings.
A spokesperson for Medicspot said on the results: “We mainly keep our masks in our pockets or the car, so it’s easy to forget to wash them like we do our clothes.
“Also, we usually only wear them for short bursts of time – like popping into a shop – not all day long, like with a pair of pants.
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“However, in that short space of time, the masks do go through a lot, from our breathing to the pollution and, of course, potential virus particles that they’ll be blocking.”
The CDC recommends that reusable masks should be washed as soon as they become dirty, or at least once a day, while disposable face masks should be thrown away after one use.
As it stands, face masks are a legal requirement in all shops and supermarkets, as well as on board all public transport across England. Vaccine passports were also introduced.
The Prime Minister reintroduced the use of face masks last month in response to the Omicron Covid variant, which is more transmittable than other strains of the virus.