Mask Mandates Research Articles

A Profile of Students Who Reported Mask Mandates Violate Civil Liberties during COVID-19.

Objectives: In this paper, we explore differences in demographics, mask wearing attitudes and behaviors, and vaccination perceptions among students who reported that mask mandates violate their civil liberties compared to those who did not. Methods: Participants completed an online survey in April 2021 (N=619). Results: Students who reported that mask mandates violate their civil liberties were more likely to identify as male, report good health, attend in-person classes, and less likely to report being vaccinated (p<.05). These students were also more likely to endorse not wearing masks because masks make it difficult to breathe, provide a false sense of security, and because they value their independence; in addition, they were more likely to endorse not being vaccinated because they are at low perceived risk for infection, because of the unknown side effects of vaccines, and because vaccines were rushed into production (p<.05). Whereas students who reported that mask mandates violate their civil liberties were about 5.2 times more likely (p<.0001) to report being unvaccinated, vaccine status was only modestly positively correlated (r=.36, p<.0001). Conclusions: Although students who reported mask mandates violate their civil liberties were also more likely to be unvaccinated, these individuals are not necessarily the same, suggesting different public health messaging may be required to increase both mask use and vaccine uptake.

An Approach to Collecting School District Level COVID-19 Mask Mandate Information in the United States form the Web using Tools Powered by Artificial Intelligence.

The objective of this study was to collect online information about COVID-19 mask mandates in United States (U.S.) school districts using artificial intelligence to verify and contribute to official statistics collected by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and linking to data reported by U.S. states.&#x0D; To collect the data, the authors developed a customized web scraping tool using the Python package BeautifulSoup to automate Google searches of mask mandates in school districts in the U.S. These automated searches retrieved a pre-determined number of top search results in a tabular format. Next, the authors developed Natural Language Processing (NLP) code that read the search results and classified which school districts had implemented a mask mandate. This classification was achieved by developing and training a supervised machine learning algorithm using the search results data that were manually labelled by the authors.&#x0D; As a pilot study, the authors were able to successfully develop the automated Google search tool to query and retrieve school district level mask mandate information for the state of Ohio. The algorithm trained using this data classified which school districts had implemented a mask mandate with an accuracy of 87 percent. The data predicted by the algorithm was used to verify the same data collected by ED through monthly surveys of public schools, and will inform masking policy data for states that had low response rates to the ED survey. These data will also be linked to data on the number of COVID-19 cases in schools reported by state governments to assess the success of masking policies in reducing COVID-19 case counts.&#x0D; The results of the study demonstrate that large scale data collection and validation activities can be conducted with high accuracy at a low cost and can be repeated more frequently than surveys can without incurring any additional burden on potential respondents.

Impact of Mask Mandates on K-12 and Higher-Ed Teaching along with the Recommendation for Mask-Wearing during an Infectious Disease Outbreak

Mask mandates were used as a multilayered approach to prevent the spread of the COVID-19. The state of New Mexico had one of the longest indoor mask mandates during the pandemic. We surveyed the K-12 teachers located throughout the state as well as higher-ed faculty members at New Mexico Tech to determine the impact of mask mandates on their teaching. Many instructors indicated minor problems, especially their ability to judge students’ engagement and/or participation. While some reported that their classrooms adopted masks as a new norm and it has become part of their school lives with no major issues. Some instructors did report negative impacts because of the participants’ opposition to mask-wearing. Two of the instructors provided unique perspectives by comparing secondary school vs. higher-education (higher-ed) teaching during the pandemic. Moreover, three K-12 teachers who worked with hearing-impaired students reported the initial issues of being unable to use facial expressions; however, they also noted their students learned to sign with masks on. Collectively the benefits of masks in slowing the spread of COVID-19 outweigh many of the communication issues noted here. After the mask mandate was lifted in February 2022, instructors reported general excitement and/or social awkwardness in some cases.

Barriers to COVID-19 Intervention Implementation in K-5 Classrooms: A Survey of Teachers from a District with Mask Mandates despite a Statewide Mask Mandate Ban.

The study objective was to characterize K-5 teachers’ risk perceptions and experiences with CDC COVID-19 classroom guidance in an Arizona school district with a mask mandate, conflicting with a statewide mask mandate ban. Methods: Public school teachers (n = 111) were recruited between 14 December 2021, and 31 January 2022, for an anonymous online survey with questions on seven important topics related to: (1) population demographics, (2) teachers’ perceptions of COVID-19 in the workplace, (3) masks, (4) physical distancing, (5) surface transmission routes, (6) air flow, and (7) contact tracing protocols. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and statistically significant differences in categorical responses by grade level taught were investigated with Fisher’s exact test. Results: There were 76 complete responses. No significant differences across grade levels were found. More than half (53%, 43/81) reported not feeling protected from occupational COVID-19 exposure. Lack of mask usage/enforcement was the most frequently listed reason (40%, 17/42). Physical distancing barriers included large student-teacher ratios. Conclusions: Consistent mask guidance at state and local levels, increased financial support, and lower student-teacher ratios may improve the implementation of CDC guidance for classrooms. Conflicting statewide and district-level school mask policies may negatively impact teachers’ risk perceptions.

Mask or No Mask for COVID-19? Do the Individual Characteristics of Governors Affect the Adoption of Statewide Public Mask Mandates?

Public mask mandates are widely recognized as one of the most effective policy tools to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Across the US, states vary widely in the timeline of adopting a state-level requirement to wear face coverings. Governors play a crucial role in making policy responses to the coronavirus pandemic. Building upon the upper echelons theory, this research explores the determinants of the timing of issuing statewide public mask mandates, focusing on the individual characteristics of state governors. Based on an event history analysis, the study finds that the two characteristics (political ideology and gubernatorial power) of state governor have influenced the time to adoption of statewide public mask mandates. Furthermore, managerial discretion and job demand have a moderating effect on the linkage between the personal traits of state governors and the timeline of adopting public mask mandates.

The Differential Impact of Reopening States With and Without COVID-19 Face Mask Mandates on County-Level Consumer Spending.

Objectives:By the end of 2020, 38 states and the District of Columbia had issued requirements that people wear face masks when in public settings to counter SARS-CoV-2 transmission. To examine the role face mask mandates played in economic recovery, we analyzed the interactive effect of having a state face mask mandate in place on county-level consumer spending after state reopening, adjusting for county rates of new COVID-19 cases and deaths, time trends, and county-specific effects.Methods:We collected county-specific data from state executive orders, consumer spending data from the Opportunity Insights Economic Tracker, and COVID-19 case and death data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID-19 tracker. Using an event study approach, we compared county-level changes in consumer spending before and after state-issued closure orders were lifted and assessed the interactive effect of state-issued face mask mandates.Results:The lifting of state-issued closures was associated with an average increase in consumer spending across all counties studied within 1 month. However, the increase was 1.2-1.7 percentage points higher in counties with a state face mask mandate in place than in counties without a state face mask mandate.Conclusions:In addition to their public health benefits, face mask mandates may have assisted economic recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting they are a strong public health strategy for policy makers to consider now and for potential future pandemics arising from airborne viruses.

Mask Mandates and Dilemmas of Disability Difference.

A number of recent legal cases in the United States have considered both disability‐based exceptions to Covid‐19‐related mask mandates and disability‐based claims to stronger masking rules in states restricting the abilities of local governments to enforce mask mandates. We argue that a proper legal and ethical analysis of such cases requires understanding the distinction between disability accommodations and disability modifications. Disability accommodations are individualized adjustments that enable qualified individuals to perform jobs or achieve access on terms comparable to those experienced by others. Disability modifications are programmatic changes to structures or policies that increase accessibility. We contend that in the context of mask mandates, modifications rather than accommodations are ethically desirable because modification‐oriented policies promote disability access in a way that treats all individuals fairly, avoiding the risk of promoting misinformation and uncertainty about the health benefits of masking.

Relaxing Mask Mandates in New Jersey

Relaxing Mask Mandates in New Jersey

Epidemiological and Clinical Features of Kawasaki Disease During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States

Public health measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic had widespread effects on population behaviors, transmission of infectious diseases, and exposures to environmental pollutants. This provided an opportunity to study how these factors potentially influenced the incidence of Kawasaki disease (KD), a self-limited pediatric vasculitis of unknown etiology. To examine the change in KD incidence across the United States and evaluate whether public health measures affected the prevalence of KD. This multicenter cohort study included consecutive, unselected patients with KD who were diagnosed between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2020 (multicenter cohort with 28 pediatric centers), and a detailed analysis of patients with KD who were diagnosed between January 1, 2002, and November 15, 2021 (Rady Children's Hospital San Diego [RCHSD]). For the multicenter cohort, the date of fever onset for each patient with KD was collected. For RCHSD, detailed demographic and clinical data as well as publicly available, anonymized mobile phone data and median household income by census block group were collected. The study hypothesis was that public health measures undertaken during the pandemic would reduce exposure to the airborne trigger(s) of KD and that communities with high shelter-in-place compliance would experience the greatest decrease in KD incidence. A total of 2461 KD cases were included in the multicenter study (2018: 894; 2019: 905; 2020: 646), and 1461 cases (median [IQR] age, 2.8 years [1.4-4.9 years]; 900 [61.6%] males; 220 [15.1%] Asian, 512 [35.0%] Hispanic, and 338 [23.1%] White children) from RCHSD between 2002 and 2021 were also included. The 28.2% decline in KD cases nationally during 2020 (646 cases) compared with 2018 (894 cases) and 2019 (905 cases) was uneven across the United States. For RCHSD, there was a disproportionate decline in KD cases in 2020 to 2021 compared with the mean (SD) number of cases in earlier years for children aged 1 to 5 years (22 vs 44.9 [9.9]; P = .02), male children (21 vs 47.6 [10.0]; P = .01), and Asian children (4 vs 11.8 [4.4]; P = .046). Mobility data did not suggest that shelter-in-place measures were associated with the number of KD cases. Clinical features including strawberry tongue, enlarged cervical lymph node, and subacute periungual desquamation were decreased during 2020 compared with the baseline period (strawberry tongue: 39% vs 63%; P = .04; enlarged lymph node: 21% vs 32%; P = .09; periungual desquamation: 47% vs 58%; P = .16). School closures, masking mandates, decreased ambient pollution, and decreased circulation of respiratory viruses all overlapped to different extents with the period of decreased KD cases. KD in San Diego rebounded in the spring of 2021, coincident with lifting of mask mandates. In this study of epidemiological and clinical features of KD during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, KD cases fell and remained low during the period of masking and school closure. Mobility data indicated that differential intensity of sheltering in place was not associated with KD incidence. These findings suggest that social behavior is associated with exposure to the agent(s) that trigger KD and are consistent with a respiratory portal of entry for the agent(s).

Mask mandates, race, and protests of summer 2020

ABSTRACT This study examined predictors to mask mandate support and racial justice protest participation across Asian (n = 103), Black (n = 102), white (n = 102) New York City residents, using binary logistic regressions. Participants with positive feelings about the racial justice movement were more likely to participate in the protests. White and Asian respondents were more likely to support the mask mandates over Black respondents. Asian respondents were less likely to participate in public protests over white respondents. Our findings offer a model for social workers to understand how race, political participation and COVID-19 intersect to create racially just responses to health and justice matters.

Lifting Statewide Mask Mandates and COVID-19 Cases: A Synthetic Control Study.

Importance:As states reopened their economies state and local officials made decisions on policies and restrictions that had an impact on the evolution of the pandemic and the health of the citizens. Some states made the decision to lift mask mandates starting spring 2021. Data-driven methods help evaluate the appropriateness and consequences of such decisions.Objective:To investigate the association of lifting the mask mandate with changes in the cumulative coronavirus case rate.Design:Synthetic control study design on lifting mask mandate in the state of Iowa implemented on February 7, 2021.Setting:Daily state-level data from the COVID-19 Community Profile Report published by the US Department of Health & Human Services, COVIDcast dataset of the Delphi Research Group, and Google Community Mobility Reports.Exposures and Outcome:Mask mandate policy lift at the state level. State-day observations of the cumulative case rate measured as the cumulative number of new cases per 100,000 people in the previous 7 days.Results:The cumulative case rate in Iowa increased by 20%–30% within 3 weeks of lifting the mask mandate as compared with a synthetic control unit. This association appeared to be related to people, in fact, reducing their mask-wearing habits.Conclusions:Lifting the mask mandate in Iowa was associated with an increase in new COVID-19 cases. Caution should be applied when making this type of policy decision before having achieved a more stable control of the pandemic.

A Data-driven, Dynamic and Flexible Approach to Safely Lifting Mask Mandate: A Proposal.

The governors of New Jersey, New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware and Oregon announced early in the week of February 7 that select mask mandates in their states would end in two to six weeks. These states together account for 77.9 million Americans, or ~23.5% of the U.S. population, and therefore these changes in policy could have a significant impact on the U.S. economy, as well as education and healthcare systems in each state. As counts of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths decrease, mask mandates should be reassessed. We propose that a data-driven, dynamic and flexible approach may help lift mask mandates safely and facilitate a smooth transition to post-pandemic normalcy.

Effect of Mask Mandates on the Intraocular Pressure Measured via Goldmann Applanation Tonometry

Purpose: The corona virus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in mandatory masking of patients and physicians during outpatient visits. This study evaluated the changes in intraocular pressure (IOP) according to mask use.Methods: This prospective study enrolled 30 healthy volunteers (60 eyes). IOP was measured via Goldmann applanation tonometry (GAT) for the subjects wearing one of four commonly used masks: dental, bi-folding Korean Filter (KF)94, tri-folding KF94, and dust masks. Subjects with IOP measurement errors of more than 5 mmHg were rechecked with another GAT type.Results: The mean IOP measured via GAT before mask wearing was 13.7 ± 1.7 mmHg. It was 13.5 ± 2.1, 14.0 ± 2.3, 14.3 ± 2.5, and 13.8 ± 1.6 mmHg with the dental, bi-folding KF94, tri-folding KF94, and dust masks, respectively. There were no significant differences in IOP according to mask type (p = 0.635). IOP errors above 5 mmHg were detected in three subjects who had contact between the GAT feeler arm and tri-folding KF94 mask during IOP measurement.Conclusions: The IOP as measured via GAT is artificially elevated by mechanical interference from the tri-fold KF94 mask. To minimize such mask-induced artifacts in GAT measurements, compress the patient’s mask or change the mask type to prevent any contact during measurement.

A Note from the Editor

A Note from the Editor John Fletcher As I write this (November 2021), I am wrapping up my first semester returning to in-person classes at Louisiana State University. This has been the toughest pandemic semester for me, perhaps the most wearying of my professional career. For a few months in summer 2021, I fooled myself into thinking that the worst of COVID-19 was behind us. We had the vaccines everyone had been hoping and praying for. I started going out to restaurants and movies. My masks stayed in my pocket. I traveled to see my family for the first time in over a year. Maybe, I thought, things will go back to some version of “OK.” By July’s end, hope had faded. Louisiana’s vaccination rates stalled below 50 percent, and the Delta variant spiked here early. Hospitals overflowed and infections soared, shattering 2020’s numbers, driven mostly by the unvaccinated. Beyond the now all-too-familiar health anxiety (Is it a sniffle or COVID?), I felt dismay. We—or at least a significant percentage of us—chose this. We had the opportunity to escape this pandemic and decided not to, like a horror movie character choosing to go back into the axe murderer’s lair. We had elected to step backward, as we also seem to in battles against white supremacy, climate change, and political corruption. The return to in-person learning thus proved more an ordeal than a relief. Upper administration forbade remote options, even as they urged us to livestream every session for quarantining students. Classes featured universal masking and HEPA-filtered air purifiers blasting constantly; discussions about plays and performances became wearying lessons in vocal projection and enunciation. (You’re lucky, I reminded myself. At least you have filters and masking mandates.) Adding catastrophe to injury, Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana in our second week, shutting us down just as we struggled to gain momentum. Baton Rouge was mostly spared; communities to our south and east endured horrendous damage and are still recovering. Students, faculty, and staff returned to classes tense and traumatized, distracted and disheartened. Even as COVID rates in my region decline and mask mandates lift, last summer’s false reprieve has left me pessimistic. Fool me once . . . Your mileage may vary, as they say. But in conversations with colleagues at other institutions as well as social media discourse among academics, I find echoes of my own fatigue. We may have gotten through the post-quarantine fall, but many of us are not thriving. The relative slenderness of this March issue indexes our collective exhaustion. We have plenty of essays and articles in our pipeline, but the flow has slowed considerably. People need more time. Finding reviewers for articles takes longer. The revise-and-resubmit process falters as local emergencies and narrower bandwidths steal our focus. Slowing down along with everyone else, I feel a combination of resentment and gratitude about the submissions-management system we use (ScholarOne), which keeps me on track with deadlines and reminders for editorial tasks. Nothing stings like the “You’re late” reprimand of a non-sentient auto-email. For what it is worth, then, allow me to offer a little grace. If you are someone who feels stuck in or intimidated by the publication pipeline, know that we editors want your work. I am never offended or angry when authors request more time, or when they take months rather than weeks to revise and resubmit. I have been there myself. Likewise, I understand when people decline invitations to review. Reading and responding to manuscripts is a labor of love, a gift of time and energy. It happens sometimes that we have no spare time or energy to give. Again, I have been there. I am grateful [End Page vii] when authors can make deadlines and when readers can accept invitations to review. But there is no contest, no scorekeeping for a “Most Dedicated to Scholarship” award (which would inevitably translate into a “Most Blessed with Time, Energy, and Focus” prize). We practice as life allows us. I am pleased, then, to showcase the work that this issue’s authors have contributed despite the Delta resurgence of...

The Political and Judicial Battles Over Mask Mandates for Schools

If there is one image that encapsulates the bitter clashes over COVID-19 policy in the US, it is surely the face mask.1,2 Schools have become ground zero in ongoing battles over whether the US public must mask up.

Vaccine Hesitancy Narratives

Vaccine Hesitancy Narratives

Policy Design for COVID-19: Worldwide Evidence on the Efficacies of Early Mask Mandates and Other Policy Interventions.

To understand the extent to which a policy instrument’s early adoption is crucial in crisis management, we leverage unique worldwide data that record the daily evolution of policy mandate adoptions and COVID‐19 infection and mortality rates. The analysis shows that the mask mandate is consistently associated with lower infection rates in the short term, and its early adoption boosts the long‐term efficacy. By contrast, the other five policy instruments—domestic lockdowns, international travel bans, mass gathering bans, and restaurant and school closures—show weaker efficacy. Governments prepared for a public health crisis with stronger resilience or capacity and those with stronger collectivist cultures were quicker to adopt nationwide mask mandates. From a policy design perspective, policymakers must avoid overreacting with less effective instruments and underreacting with more effective ones during uncertain times, especially when interventions differ in efficacy and cost.

COVID-19 in South Korea: Proper Timing for Easing Mask Mandates After COVID-19 Vaccination.

As of July 25, 2021, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 1,422 new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, 188,848 total cases, and 2,073 total deaths (1.10% fatality rates). Since the first severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) case was reported, efforts to find a treatment and vaccine against COVID-19 have been widespread. Four vaccines are on the World Health Organization's (WHO's) emergency use listing and are approved of their usage; BNT162b2, mRNA-1273, AZD1222, and Ad26.COV2.S. Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 need at least 14 d to achieve effectiveness. Thus, people should abide by prevention and control measures, including wearing masks, washing hands, and social distancing. However, a lot of new cases were reported after vaccinations, as many people did not follow the prevention control measures before the end of the 14-d period. There is no doubt we need to break free from mask mandates. But let us not decide the timing in haste. Even if the mask mandates are eased, they should be changed depending on the number of reported cases, vaccinations, as well as prevention and control measures on how circumstances are changing under the influence of mutant coronavirus.

Evaluating System for Effectiveness of Mask Mandates and the Most Influential Factor in Each State in the U.S.A

Over the past year, the COVID-19 outbreak deeply and thoroughly changed the way the world is, and plenty of people died because of this virus. To control the epidemic, all the state governments in the United States took the mask mandates to ask people to wear masks in public. However, many people doubt if the mask can help them prevent the spread of the virus, and there are few researches about the effectiveness of the mask mandates in each state. To tackle this issue, this paper proposed an evaluating system for the effectiveness of mask mandate in each state in the U.S.A, which can be utilized to analyze whether mask mandates can slow down the spread of the virus. And if the effectiveness of mask mandates is different in different states, this paper will continue to find out which factor can most affect the effectiveness. The experimental results demonstrated that even though the new cases in some states still increased after the mask mandates, it can be seemed that the mask mandates do control the spread of the virus in general. According to the research, the paper can find that the most influential factor to the effectiveness is the infection rate. There are also some secondary factors to the effectiveness of mask mandates. Through these researches, they can analyze the result to develop more effective mandates to control the epidemic and help governments and companies develop new products to fit the needs during the epidemic.

Mask Mandates and COVID-19 Related Symptoms in the US.

PurposeThis study investigates the extent to which the Public Mask Mandate, a policy that requires the use of face masks in public, can protect people from developing COVID-19 symptoms during the initial stage of the pandemic from mid-April to early June 2020 in the United States (US).MethodsWe employ the difference-in-differences model that exploits the differential timing of the mask mandate implementation across states.ResultsOur findings show that the Public Mask Mandate significantly lowers the incidence of developing all COVID-19 symptoms by 0.29 percentage points. The estimate implies an average reduction of 290%, compared to the proportion of the mandate-unaffected individuals who display all symptoms (0.1%).ConclusionThe study provides suggestive evidence for the health benefits of wearing masks in public in the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also highlights the relevance of public mask wearing for the ongoing pandemic where the vaccination rate is precarious and access to vaccines is still limited in many countries.