Why most people(kids & adults) here wear cloth masks, but not disposable masks like other countries?

[Anonymous]

Because they are not made in USA.
I haven’t find any mask that we’re not made in China.
There are certain products like food , masks and cooking pots I try to buy not made in China . I did that way before Covid though . Due to quality and safety of material used.
If someone knows where I can purchase in person disposable masks made locally please share Store .

[Anonymous]

I use them when I need to wear them for a long time or need to do something that requires any exertion. They are 100 times easier to breathe through. I wear the reusables when I am just running into the store or something quick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For about 3-4 months you could not buy disposable masks here. They are on the shelves now, but, pretty much everyone had already made or bought cloth masks by the time they reappeared. I have a box of disposable masks in my car in case someone forgets to bring a cloth one, but, we haven't had to use many of them. I feel safe enough in my homemade masks and am irritated AF with the disposable masks littering parking lots and streets where inconsiderate people toss them.

Yes, this is why. We were also actively discouraged from buying disposable medical masks for months, and told that doing so was selfish because medical professionals needed them. So we made masks and bought fabric masks on Etsy because that was all that was available. Many of the fabric masks have pockets for filters.

I don't love the waste produced by disposable masks (or the litter) but I do actually think we should have produced more of them and distributed them widely starting in March. I think in places where disposable masks are common, you also have better mask compliance and people view it as a normal thing to do, like clearing your table in a food court or throwing away your trash at the park. Instead, the attitude in the US is that masks are about individuals -- you are individually responsible for procuring them, they are an individual choice or fashion statement, etc.

Masks are not about individuals. It's a public health measure, like seatbelts.

[Anonymous]

Because we were told for a long time to save them for medical professionals.

Because we couldn't get them for a long time.

Because the ones i can get now are all no-name brand made in china - quality and safety concerns.

Because the ones i can get now are still like $15 for 10 masks - crazy.

Because they are terrible for the environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I use them when I need to wear them for a long time or need to do something that requires any exertion. They are 100 times easier to breathe through. I wear the reusables when I am just running into the store or something quick.

I find the disposable easier to breathe in than cloth, and less stuffy in hot weather.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I use them when I need to wear them for a long time or need to do something that requires any exertion. They are 100 times easier to breathe through. I wear the reusables when I am just running into the store or something quick.

I find the disposable easier to breathe in than cloth, and less stuffy in hot weather.

cause they don't work as well. I see these as just for show.

[Anonymous]

The disposables are itchy and irritate my skin.

[Anonymous]

My reusable mask has a filter... I also think it seals better than the flimsy disposable masks I see people wearing

[Anonymous]

Because the disposable masks don’t fit well, often leave gaps on the sides, slide down when you attempt to talk, are flimsy, get dirty very quickly, are not reusable, are not washable, have thin elastic that digs in behind the ears, are expensive to use on a daily basis, are bad for the environment, and cannot be pushed down when necessary and pulled back up easily.

Also, we have been conditioned to believe that disposable masks, especially N-95 masks, are to be reserved for the healthcare workers. Anyone seen wearing them in the past was shamed or called a “hoarder.” Many people still believe this to be true.

The thin, pleated, light blue surgical masks that a lot of folks are wearing are downright scary to me. I wore one in an emergency and felt so unprotected.

Lastly, there is no way that I could afford to stock up on enough daily, disposable masks for our family of four for even a few months when I can simply wash our stock of cloth masks every few days.

[Anonymous]

There are 300 million people in the US. One mask a day for each person for a month is 9,000,000,000 masks. In one month! A year’s worth would be 108 billion masks. We can’t manufacture that many, and we don’t want to deal with disposing that many. We’ve got about a dozen or so in our house, and they will last us as long as we need them to.

[Anonymous]

Because masks are like a chain linked fence and you’re throwing Covid sand granulates it. So just keep refusing a cloth one, they’re quite useless at actual Covid molecules.

[Anonymous]

I believe that 3-layer cloth masks are much safer than disposable masks. When I look at people with cloth masks, the masks are close fitting. When I look at people with disposable masks, the masks are loose with huge gaping areas. I cannot believe that people wearing disposable masks with the gaps are more safe than cloth masks. That defies reason. So there may be studies about efficacy in controlled situations, I don't believe the studies account for real life situations. Additionally, as previously stated by other posters, disposable masks have a significant negative consequence for the environment as well as being a bad use of a scarce resource (wood or other similar materials) that could be better used for other things.

[Anonymous]

https://healthnewshub.org/health-news-hub/top-news/cloth-mask-vs-surgical-mask-vs-n95-how-effective-is-each/

[Anonymous]

I really wish people would stop using the disposable ones all over the world, just like stopping using plastic bags. It’s selfish to pollute like that.

[Anonymous]

We wear masks made from quilting material - which as good if not better than the disposable ones. We are lucky to know quilters.