We have a bunch of (clean) cloth masks by the front door. On your way out, you grab one and go and then when you get back home, the mask goes in the laundry hamper.
All of these masks are ho-hum, solid color, purely functional (boring) masks.
I have a few however that are kept separate and have to be hand-washed after use.
One is a nifty orange, green, and black mask that was given to me by a friend’s mother who made them. It has a sort of African kente pattern and I’ve actually gotten compliments on it. I have my Maryland state flag mask. If you’re from Maryland, you obviously understand and if you’re not --come on over and check the place out. The other mask was custom made for the school where I work. It looks top quality and has a very nice color scheme with some fine embroidered edging. This one I haven’t even taken out of the bag yet and I’m waiting for just the right occasion.
And what might such an occasion be? I had to make a Target run some days back and figured this called for one of the top-grade premium masks. Apart from that, I break these out only when the situation merits, which seems increasingly rare.
Any others with a special-occasion mask that gets worn only when the circumstances merit?
I saw someone with one yesterday that was white satin with Christmas wreaths on the cheeks. It looked about like someone at the fabric factory had borrowed a pattern from wrapping paper.
Being of humble peacock nature and preferring dress in what the Puritans called the “sadd colors”, I stick with formed white KN95 masks for more dangerous indoor activities like grocery shopping, and sewn knitted black masks for hiking, such that I can scrunch them up or hang them from one ear in the quiet regions.
I have a wide selection:
A few autumnal ones
Four Halloween
Four Xmas ones
Six or seven floral ones, ranging from pastels to grey scale
One done by an artist ex of my daughter
And at least a dozen plain colored ones, mostly in darker colors.
I’m not on the Pelosi level of coordination, but I have fun.
I have ten masks. Of these, four of them I know to be reasonably comfortable and practical for all-day wear, so I’ll pick out of the ones that are clean whichever one I (in my poor fashion sense) think goes best with whatever I’m wearing at the time. The rest, I’ve never even tried yet. If it ever happened that I needed a mask and all of my usuals were dirty, I would try a new one and hope that it, too, is comfortable.
The closest any of them have come to “special occasions” is that we occasionally have a day for showing school spirit by wearing particular colors, and when I’ve had one that matched those colors, it was the one I chose.
I have 7, each marked for a day of the week and used that day then left to sit on a shelf for 6. After a couple months they get a little raggedy and are replaced with new ones.
For safety equipment function is all and form is as nothing.
I have a hand made mask made from fabric with Marvel comics super heroes. I wear it when I want to be noticed. But with the increasing numbers, I feel better in a KN95, so I rarely wear it any more. When the transmission numbers are low enough for me to feel safe in outdoor seating, I’ll wear it again.
I was just commenting to my wife the other day that men’s business and more formal wear should probably start coming with masks that are coordinated- either that match the suit, the shirt or the tie. Not sure which one makes the most fashion sense (I lean toward the suit myself).
Otherwise, yeah, I have a rather plain dark blue one that I’d wear to some sort of special occasion if one presented itself.
I don’t think there are enough KN95 for everyone, are there?
Most of my masks are homemade, and so I have no way of knowing which of them are better at doing their job than others. The one that isn’t homemade, I know is worse at doing its job: It might filter better (I don’t actually know that, either, but it might), but it doesn’t stay on as well: It slips off of my nose if I’m talking, and I know that it’s not working when it’s not on.
There definitely are not enough N95 masks to go around.
At least here in NYC, they’re not available at all to retail customers. The supply seems to be going entirely to hospitals and other health care facilities. And even then, they seem to be in short supply. During video calls with my father, resident in a memory care facility, I’ve observed the patients and staff wearing ordinary surgical masks. Never N95s. I don’t know if this is a supply issue or just what they’re doing.
But (again, here in NYC) KN95 masks are very easily available, in any quantity you want. Staples sells them in boxes of 20. My local hardware store has them. Lots of other places.
Paper masks are relatively easy to get here in Korea, so I’ve taken to decorating mine. My favorite is drawing a cat face on it, though sometimes I’ll draw a smirk or a Joker smile.
According to the news site, N95 masks must pass a strict inspection and certification process from a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. However, due to the demand and need for PPE during this pandemic, manufacturers of KN95 masks can get approval from the Food and Drug Administration through an emergency authorization for a foreign certification as long as it meets the 95% filtration requirement, the news site reported. The FDA says the manufacturer of KN95 masks must also provide documentation that the masks and materials used are authentic, the article stated.
To be certified a KN95 mask, it must meet Chinese government requirements with a mask-fit test with less than or equal to 8% leakage when tested, according to several reports.
I’ve found KF94* masks to work best for me (Korean standard comparable to N95). They are similar to the medical grade N95s I had in our emergency kits, which are the best fitting ones I could find, and which I donated to medical workers back in March or April. I wear those to indoor places like grocery stores that I need to go to.
I have also made a number of fabric masks for all of us, which we wear for trips outside, mostly. I have a favorite grey pinstriped one, but there are a number of colors and patterns. I don’t really try to coordinate – I just pick one that fits well and is clean.
I did buy an RBG in front of rainbow colors one, which I liked in theory, but I don’t like how it fits, unfortunately. I might wear it for a special occasion, I suppose.
