We don’t know everything about how the novel coronavirus spreads, but we know a lot more than we did in March. For example, we know that it’s unlikely that you would get COVID-19 from touching items you buy at the grocery store. All that disinfecting of pretty much everything that we did back in March and April was probably not necessary.

We also know that face masks and social distancing are very important tools to prevent the spread of COVID-19, which most commonly spreads through tiny droplets that come from our mouth and nose when we inhale and exhale.

There has been a lot of research that has shown that wearing a face mask properly can prevent the spread of COVID-19, especially when you are inside or in a place where social distancing is difficult. For example, there was a hair salon where two employees didn’t know they had COVID-19. The customers wore face masks, and nobody else got sick.

In order for a face mask to protect you and those around you, it’s important to wear that face mask properly. The proper way to wear a face mask is to have it cover both your nose and your mouth and to also fit snugly so that air doesn’t get in around the sides of the mask.

You have probably seen more than one person wearing a face mask that fell below their nose. Some people may be doing this on purpose thinking that covering their nose really isn’t all that important. Other people may be wearing their face mask this way because it doesn’t fit properly and simply falls below the nose.

Whatever the reason, according to research, a face mask will only work properly if it covers both your mouth and nose. Tim Sly is an epidemiologist and professor emeritus at Ryerson University. He said that if a mask isn’t worn properly, “It serves no purpose at all. Going through the motions, in a way.”

Even if you think that you don’t have COVID-19 and that the people around you don’t have it either, there is really no way to know unless you get tested. There are many asymptomatic cases, and that makes it highly possible that someone you come in contact with has COVID-19 without knowing it. Sly adds, “There’s no other pathogen that we know of that’s essentially hidden. You and I don’t know who’s got the virus out there … and who doesn’t have it.”

If you’re having trouble getting your face mask to fit properly, try this easy trick shared by a dentist. If you want to make sure your face mask is effective, you can refer to this chart or try the candle test.