Potential Self-contamination: Improper Hygiene Procedure of Using Masks

Abstract

Using masks has become popular as an effort to prevent COVID-19. This increased the public consumption of masks. But in practice, this effort might cause other problems. The survey arranged to observe the potential contamination form from using masks. Specifically, it is a procedure when using and removing an inappropriate mask This descriptive study is a cross-sectional study. Data collection was carried out using a questionnaire filled in by 152 respondents aged ≥15-years-old who lived in the Jabodetabek area through a link shared online on various social media. Workingat the healthcare facility was the exclusion criteria for the participants. Fabric masks were the most commonly used. The majority replaced mask with the new or clean one once a day. Touched outer side of masks was the habit of most participants with lack of hand-hygiene practice. Potential self-contamination from inhaling pathogens, direct or indirect, released by the infected person when coughing, sneezing, even when talking, sourced themselves or others. Environmental contamination could occur due to lack of hand hygiene practice before wear masks, and after-touch while in use and after-remove it. Hence, educate the community for proper procedure use of masks and hand hygiene practice is necessary to prevent contamination and spread of diseases.

Prevalence of Pathogenic Bacteria on Face Masks from Wet Markets in Makkah during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Several studies have highlighted masks' essential role in protecting the public from different infections and diseases (Greenhalgh et al, 2020;Liang et al, 2020;MacIntyre and Chughtai, 2015). However, the current study's findings show that the primary purpose of using masks might be influenced by community behavior (Simatupang et al, 2021). The public still needs to be more educated about the proper use of masks and their necessity to achieve the main purpose of using masks.…”

“…In the current study, in several cases, most masks were worn for more than 6 hours or more than 24 hours, whereas the mask-wearing duration in the study conducted by Molina et al, 2021). Furthermore, improper habits associated with using masks observed during the study, such as touching the mask surface and beneath the mask to scratch the face or nose, may increase the microbial load of the mask (Simatupang et al, 2021). It can consequently transfer bacteria to other organs, such as the eyes and mouth, or the objects present in various markets, such as food, shopping bags, bills, payment machines, and tools.…”

“…Improper use of masks might lead to bacterial transmission, which can cause co-infection cases in patients (Simatupang et al, 2021). Furthermore, several unsuitable practices have been observed in various communities using masks.…”

“…Furthermore, several unsuitable practices have been observed in various communities using masks. Such practices include touching the outer surface of masks with bare hands while working, attempting to put masks on and take them off multiple times while performing assigned work, and reusing masks repeatedly for extended periods, in some cases for days, with no regard for sanitation or contamination (Simatupang et al, 2021). These diverse behaviors could be salient factors since they could transmit pathogenic organisms from individual to individual, product to person, and surface to surface.…”