Related question: What are the causes of masks wearing out, and what are the implications? Are there tests you can perform to see whether your mask is still usable?
1. The biggest reason I’ve heard for why you should not reuse a mask (too many times) is that COVID can get on the mask. To my lay ear, that makes it sound like I can just leave my mask for a few days and then use it again, right?
2. The second-biggest reason I’ve heard is that the material somehow wears out or clogs up. If that’s the case, then maybe there is some kind of test that can make you moderately confident in whether you can use the mask over again? (Or maybe not, I don’t know.)
3. The third-biggest reason I’ve heard is that masks are plentiful now, so I don’t need to worry about straining the production capacity. But I have my doubts about that, if people actually wore a new mask every day or every 8 hours or whatever. So is that true? Could mask production capacity actually accommodate widespread compliance with the recommendations?
4. And what are other reasons why you shouldn’t reuse a mask (too many times)?