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Each week, we answer "frequently asked questions" about life during the coronavirus crisis. If you have a question you'd like us to consider for a future post, email us at 

 with the subject line: "Weekly Coronavirus Questions."

With concerns rising about more transmissible variants, I've been reading a lot about double masking. But are there other ways to improve mask fit? What about mask braces and mask tape? And do I need to shave my beard?!

 That's what Dr. Anthony Fauci has said in the face of looming variants that are likely more transmissible.

The goal is to get a better fit when you're in potentially risky places – say, a crowded store. 

, especially around the nose creases, is helpful at keeping pathogens out of your personal air space, says 

, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Portland State University. 

But there's no one-size-fits-all solutions. "There's not one way that's better than another," says 

, an assistant professor of medicine at Duke University. 

Try the various options and find one that's comfortable enough to sustain for the length of time you're out in a potentially risky environment. 

Here's a closer look at some of the various options.

Similar to what's marketed as medical tape, "mask tape is kind of like a high-tech Band-Aid, says Corsi. It's sold at most pharmacies and online, of course. You can take one strip about 3 inches long and use it to tape your mask down to your skin where it meets your nose or use 3 smaller strips vertically to tighten the fit. "Anecdotally, my wife has used it, and the tape lasts and helps with the seal and fogging her glasses," Corsi says.

 that these are very useful, although she warns that they look super dorky! You can buy these rubber fitters online, or you can make 

 – first you have to purchase a sheet of rubber. Marr found a brace a bit tight to wear over a mask for a long time but also easy to tote with a backup mask you keep, say, in your car or bag. "It should greatly improve performance of my surgical mask, which was very leaky around the sides," she noted on Twitter.

There are also mask braces sold online, made of silicone and somewhat resembling the forboding mask worn by Hannibal Lecter in 

. These braces would fit over a mask to seal it tighter to your face.

 In normal times, Corsi has a beard and mustache. But he shaved the beard when he realized it was interfering with his mask fit. "When you inhale, the air will go to the path of least resistance," he explains. "Facial hair creates a lot of air gaps to get right in. So it's really important to shave the beard if you want to be protected properly." Go for a clean shave anywhere the mask touches the face, he says. 

If I contract COVID-19 after my first vaccine dose, what to do? Should I delay the second dose even if it meant going outside of the recommended time frame?

, it's been shown that for two-dose vaccines, dose 1 does not offer the complete degree of protection as the combination.

In the case of the Pfizer vaccine, for instance, 

 efficacy after the first injection to be around 50 percent. That number shot up to over 92 percent after the second dose. 

Meanwhile, it does take a few weeks for your body to start churning out antibodies after vaccination. 

So you could in theory be exposed to the virus while you're in a clinic or pharmacy getting your dose. Or perhaps you get careless after dose one and drop some of your preventive measures — which, please, do not do this!! 

"If you contract COVID-19 after your first dose [of the vaccine], you should wait until you have recovered from acute illness and have cleared 

 [before getting vaccinated again]," says 

Because there's a risk of infecting others, you shouldn't break your isolation prematurely to complete your vaccine sequence.

, an assistant professor medicine at Duke University worries specially about risks to medical staff and front-line workers — beyond the usual dangers of spreading infection you'd carry by going anywhere at all with a case of COVID-19. 

Plus, since you already have the infection ... there's really not such a huge rush to get the second installment of the vax. 

One fortunate note: For the very few of us unlucky enough to find ourselves infected between vaccine doses, Advani points to new Centers for Disease Control and prevention guidelines: According to CDC, you can delay your second dose up to 42 days without sacrificing effectiveness.

Advani suspects that should be more than enough time for most to recover from a case of COVID-19, finish up needed isolation periods and get their second dosage within the vaccine window.

And to ensure that this doesn't happen to you, Advani emphasizes following all key COVID-19 preventive guidelines carefully after getting your first dose — distancing, wearing masks and washing hands often and well. 

Does it matter if I get the second dose of my COVID-19 vaccine in a different arm than the first? 

It really doesn't matter which arm you get your vaccine in, nor does it matter if you get each dose of the two-part Covid-19 vaccine in separate arms, they say. After all, it's still going into the same body. 

Sheila Mulrooney Eldred is a freelance health journalist in Minneapolis. She's written about COVID-19 for many publications including Medscape, Kaiser Health News, Science News for Students and 

Pranav Baskar is a freelance journalist who regularly answers coronavirus FAQs for NPR.

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Sheila Mulrooney Eldred

Double masking earns praise as a way to keep safe from more contagious variants. Are there other mask hacks? And vaccines are prompting some queries.

Coronavirus FAQs: What are mask braces? What if I get COVID after 1 vaccine dose?

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