Frequency of face touching with and without a mask in pediatric hematology/oncology health care professionals.

Abstract

The impact of wearing a mask on face‐touching behavior is unknown. We conducted a survey of pediatric hematology/oncology staff to assess the perception of how masks would affect face‐touching behavior and a brief observational study of providers during conferences in a children's hospital to quantify how masks affect face‐touching behavior. Most felt that the mask would either increase (37.4%) or decrease (36.6%) their face‐touching behavior. During a total of 330 person‐minutes of observation, median face‐touching rate was 5.4 face touches/hour (FT/h) while wearing a mask and 20 FT/h without a mask. Masks may reduce face‐touching behavior amongst health care professionals.