health-related fact checks

FALSE: Infographic on correct way to wear surgical masks

Rappler.com
FALSE: Infographic on correct way to wear surgical masks
Health institutions say the correct way to wear medical masks is with the colored side facing outward
Claim:

The correct way to wear masks, according to an infographic, is to wear it with the white side facing outwards if you are healthy, and with the blue side facing outwards if you are sick.

FALSE POST Surgical mask use

This claim was flagged by Facebook Claim Check, a tool that monitors potentially false claims on the platform. Posts containing this infographic were also flagged by social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle.

Rating: FALSE
The facts:

Health institutions say the correct way to wear medical masks is with the colored side facing outward.

An infographic currently circulating claimed to show the correct way to use surgical masks. It contained the text, “White side: kapag healthy at ayaw mong mahawa sa sakit, dapat ang white side ay nasa harap. Blue side: kung may sakit, dapat ang blue side ay nasa harap para di makahawa.

(White side: if you are healthy and you do not want to get infected, the white side should face outwards. Blue side: if you are sick, the blue side should be outward so you will not infect other people.)

Health institutions recommend putting on masks with the colored side facing outward. For one, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) infographic on how to safely wear medical masks says, “Ensure the colored side faces outwards.”

The Department of Health’s guidelines on how to use and dispose of medical masks also say: “Identify the proper side of [the] mask facing outside, the colored side.”

Other fact-checking organizations, including Vera Files, the Associated Press, and Full Fact have also previously debunked similar claims.

In a January interview on Bloomberg Quicktake, WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control co-director Dr Seto Wing Hong talked about the correct way to wear a medical mask. “You see it has a blue color on the outside, because it’s waterproof. And then you have white on the inside which is absorbent. So if I cough it absorbs it. Now, so you gotta wear it like this, the blue on the outside, the white on the inside,” he said.

Throughout the pandemic, Rappler has fact-checked other claims about masks, such as false claims that they can cause hypoxia or hypercapnia, or that they can be disinfected using gasoline or diesel. – Loreben Tuquero/Rappler.com

Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.

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