Abstract
We extend previous studies on the impact of masks on COVID-19 outcomes by investigating an unprecedented breadth and depth of health outcomes, geographical resolutions, types of mask mandates, early versus later waves and controlling for other government interventions, mobility testing rate and weather. We show that mask mandates are associated with a statistically significant decrease in new cases (-3.55 per 100K), deaths (-0.13 per 100K), and the proportion of hospital admissions (-2.38 percentage points) up to 40 days after the introduction of mask mandates both at the state and county level. These effects are large, corresponding to 14% of the highest recorded number of cases, 13% of deaths, and 7% of admission proportion. We also find that mask mandates are linked to a 23.4 percentage point increase in mask adherence in four diverse states. Given the recent lifting of mandates, we estimate that the ending of mask mandates in these states is associated with a decrease of -3.19 percentage points in mask adherence and 12 per 100K (13% of the highest recorded number) of daily new cases with no significant effect on hospitalizations and deaths. Lastly, using a large novel survey dataset of 847 thousand responses in 69 countries, we introduce the novel results that community mask adherence and community attitudes towards masks are associated with a reduction in COVID-19 cases and deaths. Our results have policy implications for reinforcing the need to maintain and encourage mask-wearing by the public, especially in light of some states starting to remove their mask mandates.
Highlights
As of December 2020, SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19 has infected at least 66 million people worldwide and caused more than 1.5 million deaths [1]
In addition to strengthening evidence of the effect of mask mandates on COVID-19 outcomes, this work introduces two novel contributions to the research of masks: we investigate the effect of mask mandates on mask adherence and the effect of mask adherence on COVID-19 cases and deaths
Using a novel dataset of survey responses in 69 countries around the world across months-long waves of surveys containing 847 thousand responses in 51 languages, we investigate the effect of community mask adherence and community mask attitudes
Summary
As of December 2020, SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19 has infected at least 66 million people worldwide and caused more than 1.5 million deaths [1]. Numerous studies have analyzed the role played by masks during the COVID-19 pandemic [2,3,4,5,6]: masks have. Impact of COVID-19 mask mandates, adherence, and attitudes This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials
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