Updated:  August 5, 2020, 10:45 p.m.

Masks are important tools in slowing or stopping the spread of COVID-19.

Wearing masks in public has become a politically charged subject. Even with the rise of COVID-19 infections and deaths across the South and West, Americans continue to debate the need to wear facial coverings in public despite the plethora of scientific evidence showing mask effectiveness in preventing the virus spread.

Despite the universal recommendation to wear masks while out in public from government officials, epidemiologists and medical experts, there stills appears to be a reluctance by the American public to adhere to the guidelines.

Everyday while out in public, even in locations and inside establishments where facial coverings are mandatory, you can observe people out in public refusing to wear masks or wearing them incorrectly and ineffectually.

Periodically, you can observe people with their noses, a critical pathway of the respiratory system, exposed from beneath their masks or their masks worn on their chins.

Whether donning masks incorrectly was being done out of ignorance or political sensibilities, it accomplishes the same end, it does not help reduce the public spread of the coronavirus.

Cloth masks

Cloth masks are at their best when preventing the wearer of the mask from spreading the virus to other people, either when they are already sick, asymptomatic, or even pre-symptomatic.

N95 masks or surgical masks work

According to the CDC, N95 masks and surgical masks are best used in a medical setting, when the amount of virus in the environment is quite a bit higher. The intention of these masks is to reduce the transmission of the virus to the person wearing the mask.

Wearing a mask

Wearing a mask in your neighborhood, in your workplace, or around your community is a way to show you care about those around you. You are essentially saying, “I care about you. I am member of this community. And my intention is to not give this infection to you, even if I don’t know if I’ve got it.”

Washing cloth masks

Cloth masks should be washed every day. It’s helpful to have multiple cloth masks available so you can rotate through your supply while others are washing or drying.

N95 masks or surgical masks are intended to be worn through the course of one day and discarded.