Wearing a face mask is the “new normal” for the foreseeable future…but many of us are still not wearing them properly.

Reader’s Digest has the most common mistakes we make with our masks:

• Using the wrong material  The best reusable face masks are made of breathable fibers with tight weaves, like lightweight denim or cotton bedsheets.  A thread count around 100 is ideal.  If you can see through it when you hold it to the light, it’s too thin.
• Putting your mask on too late  Ideally, you should put it on before you leave the house or at least before you get out of the car.  If you wait until you’re walking into a store, you might be exposing yourself to the virus without knowing it.
• Taking it off too early  For the same reason, you should leave it on until you get in your car or until you get home.
• Accidentally contaminating it  Touching your mask to adjust it or even just wearing it around your neck could contaminate it.
• Never washing it  Cloth masks should be washed after every use on the hottest setting possible…or if you only wear it once in a while, let it sit in a bag for a week to make sure any virus on it dies off….you can also iron cloth ones or disinfect them with Lysol.  

The biggest mistake? Not wearing one…it protect others as well as yourself.