MUNDANE MYSTERIES: How Long Are N95 Masks Good For?
We’re all trying our best to keep ourselves safe as the pandemic wears on. And one of the most frequently asked questions amidst our precautionary efforts is, “How long can I wear my N95 mask before I need to throw it out?” N95 masks, which are the most effective masks available, don’t have a rigid expiration date. So, we have to use our best judgment based on our individual situations, as well as each mask’s individual condition. But there are some guidelines we can all follow.
If there is any sign that your mask is dirty or defective, then toss it out. Did it get wet? Throw it away. Is it stained? Chuck it. Maybe the straps are stretched out & it feels loose on your face? Get rid of it.
If your mask still looks & feels to be in good working order, however, you could potentially use it a while longer. According to recommendations from the CDC, it’s a good idea to keep multiple N95s in a rotation & wear a different one each day. Then, to provide your mask an opportunity for any virus particles it may have picked up to die out between uses, store each individual mask in separate paper bags or other “breathable” container to ward off contamination (of the mask, itself, or of someone or something else).
How long should you keep a mask in rotation before chucking it in the trash? Well, the CDC & a number of other experts recommend a maximum of five wears per N95 mask. But, again, if any of your masks looks to be warped or soiled or faulty in any way, even if after only a single use, you’re better off not trying to stretch its life out any longer. Toss it & get another new one.
Safety’s the name of the game, and you want to be as protected as possible. Wearing a good N95 mask is still one of the most effective ways to keep yourself & others safe until the pandemic ends (which, hopefully, will be sooner rather than later).
Got a Mundane Mystery you’d like solved? Send a message via Twitter (@AndyWebbRadio), or email [email protected].
Wake Up Crew Highlights: February 2, 2022
MUNDANE MYSTERIES: Why The Weird Spelling of February?
Why is February spelled weird? We have a plethora of oddly spelled words in the English language, but February is pretty much the only of our calendar months to be classified as oddly-spelled. Why is that?
Well, like the eleven other, more intuitively spelled months, we have Latin to thank (or blame, as the case may be).
The month of February was known as “Februarius” to ancient Romans, from the word “februare”, which meant “to purify” in ancient Latin. Basically, Februarius was the month of purification.
The month revolved around “Lupercalia”, a wild festival that took place on February 15th & featured sacrifices, whippings, and plenty of nudity (or, at the very least, far less clothing than folks would normally wear around that time of year). Houses were purified with roasted grain & salt, land was purified with animal hide strips, priests wore crowns of leaves taken from pure trees, etc. While we don’t know precisely what Lupercalia was actually for, history seems to suggest all the purification rituals were intended to trigger prosperity & fertility.
Around the beginning of the 13th century, Middle English speakers were calling the month “Feverer” or “Feverell”, and that persisted for several more centuries before the Latin-inspired versions of the month (Februere / Februari) began turning up again in the late 1200s. And, for the most part, the latter is what has stuck around ever since.
So, why don’t we pronounce the first “r” in February nowadays? Basically, it’s because we’re lazy. Linguistically lazy, that is. Because many people have a hard time enunciating words with two R’s near each other, a lot of folks will commonly just drop one of them.
Whatever you call this month we’re in, and however you say it, if you’ve got a Mundane Mystery you’d like solved send me a message via Twitter (@AndyWebbRadio), or shoot me an email at [email protected].
Blu-our Jay Day of the Day Home Team of Real Estate Teams Pet of the Week
MUNDANE MYSTERIES: Why It’s Called “The Box Office”
When you go to the movies, you first get your tickets at the box offices, those enclosed, sometimes detached booths just in front of the theaters. But why do we call them “box offices”? Not once have I ever taken a box to them, have you?
The actual beginning of the box office involved a different type of box: the balcony compartments along the sides of a theater, where affluent patrons would enjoy performances from a higher (and swankier) vantage point (without having too much interaction with us commoners). When the term “box office” first began to appear in newspapers in the mid-1700s, it referred specifically to the point of purchase where people could buy tickets for those box seats.
Before theaters began offering regular tickets at box offices, you’d have to buy them from some designated person or business in town or at the theater’s stage door.
There are some other theories about why & how we use the phrase “box office”. Since the 1300s, the word “box” has been used to describe a money or collection box…like the one you would’ve paid into to get your theater tickets. It’s also been suggested that the “box office” dates all the way back to the late 1500s, when Elizabethan era balcony seating was glaringly separate from the “pit”, or the general admission area where low-paying theatergoers would take in the show. But there’s no actual written evidence of the term box office from before the early 1700s, so it’s most plausible that it was coined in reference to those box seats. From there, though, it wasn’t long before “box office” became a metonym for overall ticket sales, which first gained popularity in the early 20th century.
So, if you’re heading to the theatre to take in a movie tonight, at least you now know a bit about where you’ll be spending your money.
Got a Mundane Mystery you’d like solved? Send me a message via Twitter (@AndyWebbRadio), or shoot me an email at [email protected].