The Polk School District wants to make sure that students are safe when they return to campuses on Tuesday, and one way to do that is to make sure that masks are being worn properly by children and educators alike.

The Polk School District’s nursing program run through Floyd Polk Medical Center provided the above helpful guidance for parents and youth alike to follow when they are wearing masks in public spaces like the hallways and classrooms of one of Polk’s school campuses.

Dr. Lyndsay Claroni, Floyd Primary Care Physician and Medical Director for the School Nursing Program, provided the following advice in bullet points for mask use:

• It is important to wear the mask to help prevent the spread of the virus to other people, ensures that individuals are doing their part to help stop the spread of the virus even if they aren’t sick, and keeps friends and family safe and schools open.
• Always wash hands before putting on and taking off the mask
• avoid touching your face at all times
• avoid touching or adjusting your mask as much as possible
• ensure masks are kept in a breathable container before or when not in use, like an open paper bag.
• Change your mask whenever it gets dirty – that includes getting wet, when you sneeze or cough into it, or gets dirt on it.
• Remember to hold it by the ear loops when putting it on.

When putting a mask on, be sure to wash your hands or use hand sanitizer before handling, pick it up and inspect it for damage before use by the ear loops, and make sure it fits over the nose, mouth and chin.

Place the loops around the ears and adjust the fit over your cheeks, chin and nose until it fits comfortably.

For those who wear glasses and want to avoid having them fog up when wearing a mask, put your glasses on over your mask, or put a tissue on inside of the mask to catch some of the moisture.

Disposable masks should never be reused. Throw them away immediately after use.

For those who are using cloth masks, you can hand wash them in warm water with antibacterial soap and let them air dry. They can also be laundered with other clothing items, but put them in with the warmest possible setting. (Personally, I suggest putting them in the dryer too. The lint buildup on one of the black masks we bought was much more than I thought it would be letting it air dry.)

So please, remember to wear a mask out in public and send youth off to school with one as well and help prevent the spread of COVID-19 further.