As masks become more and more of a regular feature - in shops, on trains and on buses - one of our regular readers has raised an interesting point about masks.
When I bought a mask (see top picture) from one of Rye's High Street chemists before lockdown even started, the photo was taken in a High Street restaurant - and I was clean shaven and my hair was very short - and we were not socially distanced.
Many weeks later (without access to a hairdresser) and, with some laziness on my part, I had very long hair and quite a beard - though not yet to Father Christmas standards. The long hair has now vanished, but the beard keeps creeping back.
And one of our regular readers and commentators, Vic, has pointed out that this could be a problem, and sent in a drawing from the American CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) used to publicise mask wearing - a habit President Trump started to follow this week.
However the graphic below is about masks with filtering facepiece respirators, I am told, and not general face coverings, so you may need to apply common sense as to whether or not your beard and/or moustache is stopping your mask working effectively.
And, despite being bearded from time time, I am happy to publish this because we do need to wear masks and ensure they are effective. However, as an asthmatic all my life, I can find breathing difficult so I sometimes have to get my mask out of the way in order to get some fresh air - but only if I can be reasonably confident the air around me is fresh, so this usually happens when I am out walking!
