Visualization, The. One America News Network zeroed in on a portion of the report that outlines the slowing rate of infections and deaths after mask mandates were put in place. Mask mandates are associated with reductions in COVID-19 case and hospitalization growth rates (6,7), whereas reopening on-premises dining at restaurants, a known risk factor associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection (2), is associated with increased COVID-19 cases and deaths, particularly in the absence of mask mandates (8). Even as more and more states encourage or even mandate mask wearing, many citizens still resist the notion. But "few studies assessed compliance to mask wearing policies or controlled for the possible influence of other preventive measures such as hand hygiene and physical distancing.". | No, Is the Subject Area "United States" applicable to this article? The current surge is worst in places with few containment measures. Mask wearing has been advocated by public health officials as a way to reduce the spread of COVID-19. All the state does is encourage Alaskans to do their part to limit the spread of Covid-19, recommending that residents practice social distancing and wear a mask, without any mandate. If you add up all the numbers on those two lines, you find that the mask mandates made zero difference. Note: State containment measures are shown from two weeks prior, reflecting what experts say is a lag between new policies and results. Mean COVID-19 rates for states with at least 75% mask adherence in the preceding month was 109.26 per 100,000 compared to 249.99 per 100,000 for those with less adherence. Conceptualization, Over the course of the pandemic, both Iowa and Florida have done better than the national average in measures of Covid mortality as well as overall excess mortality (the number of deaths more than normal from all causes). When we looked at states with 75% mask adherence (Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont), we found none had experienced a high COVID-19 rate in the subsequent month. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for average mask adherence and mask policy for the general public are associated with high COVID-19 rates in the subsequent month (Table 3). But with variants of concern circulating around the world, masking remains importanteven as the public battles mask fatigue. "Not wearing a mask in large groups with unvaccinated people still poses a risk of COVID for unvaccinated groups. Cases fell, and since then, New York has maintained some of the countrys strongest measures to contain the virus. Another consideration is that access to COVID-19 testing appears to vary from state to state [21]. Effectiveness of Mask Wearing to Control Community Spread of SARS-CoV-2. Weak recent containment measures and many cases. A new study finds that states with high rates of mask-wearing experienced fewer COVID-19 cases. To calculate monthly COVID-19 case rates, we abstracted the number of new cases reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [17] and state population sizes in 2019 [18]. Nedghie Adrien, Roles R-0 may be the most important scientific term youve never heard of when it comes to stopping the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, the researchers calculated that for every 1% increase in wearing a mask in September, the odds of having high state-wide COVID-19 rates dropped by 26%. Meanwhile, the eight states that reported 75% or more mask adherence between June 2020 and September 2020 did not have high COVID-19 rates. "Large indoor gatherings without masking among a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated persons is a recipe for trouble.". The researchers found that 14 of the 15 states with no mask mandates had high COVID-19 rates for at least one month during the study period. Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States of America, Roles Meantime, the medias favorite experts kept predicting doom for states that never mandated masks, like Florida, or that ended the mandates early in 2021, like Iowa, whose policy shift was denounced as reckless and delusional in a Washington Post article headlined, Welcome to Iowa, a state that doesnt care if you live or die. Iowas Covid death toll plummeted right after the article appeared. Mask wearing has been advocated by public health officials as a way to reduce the spread of COVID-19 [35]. He Kept Quiet. Virginia. If you compare California to Texas, another populous state that had no mask mandates, the case trends are also very similar, although the increase was steeper in California, where the seven-day average peaked a few days earlier. At its highest level of containment efforts, New York state scored an 80 on the index. Counties with mask mandates saw a 6% reduction in cases; counties without experienced a 100% increase. The authors determined that there was a statistically significant decrease in the rate of new infections and deaths after the mandates began compared with the 20 days before. Of the 8 states with at least 75% mask adherence, none reported a high COVID-19 rate. Just as in the United States, the mask mandates in Germany produced no net benefits but plenty of inconvenience as well as outright harm. Outbreaks are comparatively smaller in states where efforts to contain the virus were stronger over the summer and fall potential good news for leaders taking action now. States with stronger policy responses over the long run are seeing comparatively smaller outbreaks. It is also possible that survey respondents misreported their mask wearing adherence; whether they would be more or less likely to over or under-report is open to speculation, but residents in states with mask wearing policy might over-report adherence to appear compliant. Its been largely delegated to a subnational level, to the states, for example, and municipalities to figure it out themselves.. That second observation requires a caveat, since testing rates affect the number of cases that are recorded. The findings were published in the journal PLOS One in April. Investigation, Investigation, Specifically, we created the following categories: >15% non-Hispanic Black, >15% Hispanic, median age >40 years, and population density >200 people per square mile, which corresponded to 74.5%, 78.4%, 82.4%, and 78.4% of the distributions, respectively. Is the Subject Area "COVID 19" applicable to this article? Indeed, associations between mask policy, adherence and other factors may be obscured in states with many high density and low density areas. By the time the mandates were introduced in New York and other states in the spring of 2020 (at the left side of the graph), infections had already been declining in those states, and the mandates didnt prevent a surge later that year, when cases rose and fell in nearly identical trajectories regardless of states mask policies. ", An August 2021 systematic review of 21 observational studies found that all of them "reported SARS-CoV-2 benefits" from mask mandates "in terms of reductions in either the incidence, hospitalization, or mortality, or a combination of these outcomes." Wearing masks is a CDC-recommended* approach to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), by reducing the spread of respiratory droplets into the air when a person coughs, sneezes, or talks and by reducing the inhalation of these droplets by the wearer. Even as states begin loosening COVID-19 restrictions, experts say masks are still the country's best line of defense against the virus. Overall, there is no obvious difference between states with mask mandates and states without them. 2021. Several cities and large counties, including Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Hillsborough (which includes Tampa), had mask requirements, but Gov. This protective effect of mask wearing was evident across four months of the pandemic, even after adjusting the associations for mask policy, distance policy, and demographic factors. Jha thinks vaccination rates areanother important factor: While "only 59% of eligible Florida seniors have gotten boosted," he notes, the rate for California is 70 percent. Experts interviewed by USA TODAY said the One America News Network had "misinterpreted" or "mischaracterized" the findings of the CDC study. More detailed message would go here to provide context for the user and how to proceed. Jocelyn Solis-Moreira is a journalist specializing in health and science news. Nevertheless, adherence is essential for policy effectiveness. For more information about PLOS Subject Areas, click No, Is the Subject Area "Public and occupational health" applicable to this article? But state-level policy choices do not explain everything: New Mexico and Rhode Island have maintained some of the countrys strongest containment measures, according to the Oxford index, yet both states are battling serious outbreaks now. Research suggests that mandatory mask-wearing policies correlated with a lower number of COVID-19 infections and deaths. The surgical masks didnt stop a subsequent surge throughout the country, and infection rates in Bavaria and Berlin were the same as in German states without the N95 requirement. Note: Cases and hospitalizations are data from Nov. 16. Yes States are issuing a new wave of mask mandates and social restrictions as record numbers of Covid-19 hospitalizations and soaring daily cases strain US medical systems. Their cumulative rates of Covid mortality were virtually identical, too (in fact, there were slightly more deaths per capita in the states with mask mandates). Our analysis suggests high adherence to mask wearing could be a key factor in reducing the spread of COVID-19. The global pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 has overwhelmed health care systems, marked by peak numbers of hospital and intensive care unit admissions and deaths [1,2]. So did New Mexico, whose surge began shortly after Scientific American praised the states strict mask policies in an article headlined, How New Mexico Controlled the Spread of Covid-19.. In conclusion, we show that mask wearing adherence, regardless of mask wearing policy, may curb the spread of COVID-19 infections. "The probability of becoming a rapid riser county was 43% lower among counties that had statewide mask mandates at reopening," the researchers reported. Herring dismissed those results, claiming unnamed experts told the news network that the reductions in spread the study found were not significant. Because stay-at-home order, mask wearing policy, mask adherence, and COVID-19 rates can vary from month to month, we listed those states with consistent classifications across the period April through September (or May through October for COVID-19 rates). Fourteen of the 15 states with no mask wearing policy for the general public through September reported a high COVID-19 rate. On the other hand, Hawaii and Connecticut had two of the longest mask mandates and also some of the lowest per capita case counts of all the states. Among states and D.C. with no mask wearing policy, 50 to 73% had high COVID-19 rates in the subsequent month. For all 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC), these data were abstracted by month for April September 2020 to measure their impact on COVID-19 rates in the subsequent month (May October 2020). Even as more and more states encourage or even mandate mask wearing policy, adherence and other may. High COVID-19 rate rates covid cases in states with mask mandates vs without mask-wearing experienced fewer COVID-19 cases were Not significant more states encourage or even mandate wearing! Weeks prior, reflecting what experts say masks are still the country 's best line defense... 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