Face masks: To train superheroes or to fight COVID-19?
Dear FairPrice, We recently bought several boxes of the “A+ Face Masks” for children (on the website: a-disposable-face-mask-for-children-blue-50-per-pack-13178145). The company has rated their masks as “A+”, but my honest verdict as a teacher is that they deserve a “D”. There’s some grade inflation going on here. Why “D”? Every day, the elastic on the mask falls off at one corner. It doesn’t take much - a gentle tug from a little hand means that the mask has come off before we’ve even left the house. And so, this mask fails in its primary job of keeping the coronavirus at bay. At the same time, I’d give this product bonus points for boosting child creativity at a much cheaper rate than some of the fancy toys advertised on Amazon. Desperate to stay in school, my 3- and 6-year-olds have now learned to use their hair clips, the metal stick in the mask, lead pencils, or their pinky fingers to drill holes at the side of the fabric before tying the elastic back in place. And so, while this product underperforms as an infection control measure, it is superior in training kids to join the “The Incredibles” cast with mad fix-it skills and sheer grit. Based on my review, I hope you’ll consider rebranding the product to give it a more accurate label. Or perhaps you could change your supplier to support the global fight against COVID-19.