Abstract
Community face masking is possibly of great value in reducing COVID-19 transmission, especially when universally adopted with high compliance. The aim of this study is to investigate the knowledge, common misconceptions, barriers, and the compliance of the community with the use of face masks for the prevention of COVID-19. A validated questionnaire was administered to the participants through a web link by using various social media. The collected data were statistically analyzed for significant differences according to demographic variables. The average knowledge of face masks and their role in preventing COVID-19 transmission was 95.64%, with no differences among most of the demographical factors. Older groups and females demonstrated a better attitude towards wearing face masks than other groups did (p<0.001). Another significant difference in the participant’s attitude was noticed between the various educational levels, employment, and nationality (p<0.001). Of the total respondents, 88.2% encouraged wearing face masks. Misconceptions about wearing face masks were very low. The frequency of wearing face masks at public places, workplaces, or social gatherings was 87.2%, 80.5%, and 47.5% respectively. There was a significant variation in the compliance with wearing face masks between the various groups based on age, gender, nationality, and employment status (p<0.001). The inconvenience in wearing face masks was reported by 36.3%. Face irritation and ear pain were reported by 70.2% and 43.5%, respectively. The inconvenience of wearing face masks with eyeglasses was reported by 44.3% of those wearing eyeglasses. In general, the study demonstrated a good attitude among participants towards wearing face masks. Although the respondents in the study were aware of the benefits of wearing face masks, the barriers may have decreased their desire to do so. These barriers include difficulty in breathing, discomfort, face irritation, and ear pain.
Highlights
About 7% agreed that wearing a face mask makes them unattractive and 6.2% reported that wearing a face mask results in an unpleasant appearance
46.7% agreed on the difficulty to communicate with a face mask on, and 17.9% reported that their facial expressions might be misinterpreted with their face masks on (Table 2)
Face irritation and ear pain were reported by 70.2% and 43.5%, respectively
Summary
The Coronavirus disease, a severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), commonly known as COVID-19, was first diagnosed in China, in December. Face masks for the prevention of COVID-19. Since the detection of the first COVID-19 case in Saudi Arabia on 2 March 2020 until 19 November 2020, there have been 354,208 confirmed cases with 5,710 deaths [3]. COVID-19 is the third emerging coronavirus that has become a catastrophic public health threat worldwide, following the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in 2002 and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in 2012 [4]. Due to the similarity of COVID-19 and previous coronaviruses, initial preventive recommendations for healthcare workers advocated the use of masks for the protection against infection. Universal masking was added following the recent revision of the recommended strategies by the WHO and CDC which has become a ubiquitous practice
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