Letter to the Editor: Face Mask Disaster 

Rolly Medina

All around the world we all have been told the importance of wearing a face mask. Health professionals, Scientists, and our local government recommend that we all wear masks when we are out in public.

They have given us consistent direction about how to wear our face mask properly. which mask is acceptable.  Little to none has been said about how to properly dispose of our disposable masks.

As I walk around our beautiful town,  I cannot avoid seeing blue disposable face masks littering the parking lot walkways and roads.

As things are slowly opening back up and restrictions are being lifted, our lives are getting back to somewhat “normal-ish.” We need to think about and talk about better ways to dispose of these blue masks. They are made from materials that can be potentially disastrous to our environment for years, decades, or maybe hundreds of years.

The blue masks may have prevented us from contracting the Corona Virus but now these masks pose a risk to people picking them up for clean up. as we know in certain circumstances Covid-19  can survive up to seven days in a plastic surgical mask and over time animals and plants can be affected by them. Small animals can get tangled by the elastic band and can choke. They can swallow the mask and not feel hungry because they are unable to digest the mask. Then the animal dies of starvation.

Let’s all be mindful of how we dispose of the life-saving masks that we use daily. Let’s make sure they don’t cause any more problems in our future.