Mask Wearing Research Articles

409. High Engagement in Social Distancing and Mask Wearing and Associations with Reduced COVID-19 Infection Among California College Students

Abstract Background Engaging in preventive behaviors, including face mask wearing and social distancing, has been widely recommended, and in some cases mandated, to limit the spread of the COVID-19 disease. Despite wide-scale use, there is little data available on engagement of mask wearing and social distancing in college students and associated COVID-19 infection. Methods A school-wide online survey was conducted (2021) among university students (n=2,132) in California. Frequency of mask-wearing and social distancing (indoors or public settings) and diagnosis with COVID-19 infection were measured. Multiple logistic regression models assessed associations between i) mask-wearing and ii) social distancing and COVID-19 infection, controlling for race, age, gender, and living with people who have high-risk health conditions. Results Fourteen percent (14.06%) reported previous COVID-19 infection. Most students reported wearing masks in public settings (77.9%) and indoors (58%). About half (49.9%) reported social distancing in public settings and 44.9% indoors. In multiple logistic regression models, wearing a mask indoors was associated with 30% lower odds of COVID-19 infection (OR= 0.70; 95% CI: 0.54,0.91) but no statistically significant association was observed for wearing a mask outdoors (OR= 0.80; 95% CI: 0.59,1.08). Social distancing indoors and outdoors was associated with a 34% (OR= 0.66; 95% CI: 0.50,0.86) and 32% (OR= 0.68; 95% CI: 0.52,0.88) decrease in the odds of infection, respectively. COVID-19 infection declined as the number of preventive behaviors a student engaged in increased. Compared to those who engaged in no preventive behavior, the odds of infection were 0.71 (95% CI: 0.46,1.11) among students engaging in one behavior, 0.70 (95% CI: 0.46,1.07) in two behaviors, 0.42 (95% CI: 0.25,0.70) in three behaviors, and 0.48 (95% CI: 0.31,0.74) among those who engaged in all four behaviors. Conclusion Wearing face masks and social distancing were both associated with lower odds of COVID-19 infection. The more preventive behaviors students engaged in the less frequently they reported COVID-19 infection. Our findings support existing guidelines promoting mask wearing and social distancing to limit the spread of COVID-19 disease. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures

Reduced Perceived Trustworthiness during Face Mask Wearing.

To curb the diffusion of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), governments worldwide have introduced different policies, including lockdowns, social distancing, and mandatory mask wearing. Face mask wearing, especially, has an impact on the formation of first impressions, given that when meeting someone for the first time, individuals rely on the only available piece of information, the newly met person’s aesthetic appearance, in order to make initial estimations of other traits, such as competence, intelligence, or trustworthiness. However, face mask wearing affects the aesthetic appearance of an individual, creating uncertainty which, in turn, has been reported to reduce others’ perceived trustworthiness. In this paper, the influence of face mask wearing on strangers’ perceived trustworthiness and aesthetic appearance is assessed to verify the impact of this policy on impression formation. Participants (N = 71) have been instructed to assess the trustworthiness and the aesthetic appearance of a selection of 96 images depicting individuals of different ages (children, adults, and older adults), gender (men and women), and ethnicity (Asians or Caucasians). Participants were randomly divided into two groups: an experimental group and a control group. Participants in the experimental group (N = 38) rated faces of individuals wearing a face mask, while participants in the control group rated the same faces but in the absence of a face mask. Images were presented in random order. For each face, participants were asked to rate the aesthetic appearance and perceived trustworthiness of the stranger on two different 100-point Likert scales. Results demonstrate that (i) the correlation between perceived trustworthiness and aesthetic appearance is not affected by the presence of a face mask, and (ii) age, but not ethnicity and gender, influences the magnitude of differences in perceived trustworthiness levels during mask wearing.

Review: Monument Lab: Creative Speculations for Philadelphia, edited by Paul M. Farber and Ken Lum; Teachable Monuments: Using Public Art to Spark Dialogue and Confront Controversy, edited by Sierra Rooney, Jennifer Wingate, and Harriet F. Senie

Book Review| November 01 2021 Review: Monument Lab: Creative Speculations for Philadelphia, edited by Paul M. Farber and Ken Lum; Teachable Monuments: Using Public Art to Spark Dialogue and Confront Controversy, edited by Sierra Rooney, Jennifer Wingate, and Harriet F. Senie Monument Lab: Creative Speculations for Philadelphia edited by Paul M. Farber and Ken Lum. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2020. x + 320 pp.; illustrations, editors, and contributors’ biographies; clothbound, $35.00.Teachable Monuments: Using Public Art to Spark Dialogue and Confront Controversy edited by Sierra Rooney, Jennifer Wingate, and Harriet F. Senie. New York and London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2021. ix + 276 pp.; illustrations, notes, index; clothbound, $130.00; eBook, $93.60. Laura A. Macaluso Laura A. Macaluso Independent Scholar, Writer, and George Washington’s Mount Vernon Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar The Public Historian (2021) 43 (4): 138–141. https://doi.org/10.1525/tph.2021.43.4.138 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Laura A. Macaluso; Review: Monument Lab: Creative Speculations for Philadelphia, edited by Paul M. Farber and Ken Lum; Teachable Monuments: Using Public Art to Spark Dialogue and Confront Controversy, edited by Sierra Rooney, Jennifer Wingate, and Harriet F. Senie. The Public Historian 1 November 2021; 43 (4): 138–141. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/tph.2021.43.4.138 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentThe Public Historian Search In the second global pandemic summer of 2021, the Olympics limped along in Tokyo. A new strain of the coronavirus, called the Delta variant, took hold across the world. The American-led military coalition left Afghanistan and the Taliban stepped right into the vacuum, reinjuring an already devastated country. Grecian islands burned, and temperatures soared from coast-to-coast in North America. Mask wearing was brought forward to take its place as the flash point of the political divide. And, more monuments were removed, including the Robert E. Lee Monument, the Stonewall Jackson Monument, and the Conqueror of the Northwest, also known as the Lewis, Clark, and Sacagawea Monument, in Charlottesville, Virginia. In another area of the country, a new monument to replace the deposed Columbus bronze in Wooster Square in New Haven, Connecticut, debuted as a conceptual drawing. In other words, amid great continued upheaval—political, social, and ecological—monument removals and reimaginations continue... You do not currently have access to this content.

An Automatic System to Monitor the Physical Distance and Face Mask Wearing of Construction Workers in COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many shutdowns in different industries around the world. Sectors such as infrastructure construction and maintenance projects have not been suspended due to their significant effect on people’s routine life. In such projects, workers work close together that makes a high risk of infection. The World Health Organization recommends wearing a face mask and practicing physical distancing to mitigate the virus’s spread. In this paper, we developed a computer vision system to automatically detect the violation of face mask wearing and physical distancing among construction workers to assure their safety on infrastructure projects during the pandemic. For the face mask detection, we collected and annotated 1000 images, including different types of face mask wearing, and added them to a pre-existing face mask dataset to develop a dataset of 1853 images and increased the dataset to 3300 images by data augmentation. Then, we trained and tested multiple Tensorflow state-of-the-art object detection models on the face mask dataset and chose the Faster R-CNN Inception ResNet V2 network that yielded the accuracy of 99.8%. For physical distance detection, we employed the Faster R-CNN Inception V2 to detect people. A transformation matrix was used to eliminate the camera angle’s effect on the object distances on the image. The Euclidian distance used the pixels of the transformed image to compute the actual distance between people. A threshold of six feet was considered to capture physical distance violation. We also used transfer learning for training the model. The final model was applied on four videos of road maintenance projects in Houston, TX, that effectively detected the face mask and physical distance. We recommend that construction owners use the proposed system to enhance construction workers’ safety in the pandemic situation.

Belief in Protecting Others and Social Perceptions of Face Mask Wearing Were Associated With Frequent Mask Use in the Early Stages of the COVID Pandemic in the UK.

Face masks are now seen as a key tool in the world’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, during the early stages of the outbreak, face mask use in the United Kingdom (UK) was significantly lower than that of countries equally impacted by the virus. We were interested to explore whether social cognitions played a role in levels of mask wearing. A cross-sectional online survey of UK adults (n=908) was conducted in July 2020. Estimated face mask use and thoughts about wearing face masks were assessed using measures developed for this study. Participants also answered questions about their general mood, social anxiety and basic demographic data. Multiple regression was used to examine factors associated with mask wearing. Participants’ estimated mask wearing was low when in public spaces, such as the park (17%) or walking on the high street (36%). However, broadly fitting with UK guidance at the time, rates were considerably higher when in situations of closer proximity to others, such as on public transport (94%), in a shop or café (62%), when speaking to somebody in an enclosed public space (67%) or in a busy area when social distancing was not possible (79%). When looking at estimated mask wearing when in proximity to others, positive social cognitions (e.g., I’ll look confident and competent wearing a mask) were associated with more wearing, whereas negative social cognitions (e.g., I’ll look anxious, I’ll look foolish) were associated with less wearing. These results remained after controlling for factors that have indicated increased risk from COVID-19 (age, gender, ethnicity, presence of a health condition or pregnancy), belief about the health benefit for others and levels of depression and social anxiety. The largest predictors of mask wearing were the amount of people believed wearing a mask would keep others safe and the presence of an underlying health condition. The study findings indicate that future public health campaigns would benefit from a focus on strengthening beliefs about the protective benefits of masks, but also promoting positive social messages about wearing in public (e.g., mask wearing means you are confident and competent).

Mask wearing increases eye involvement during smiling: a facial EMG study

The use of face masks has become ubiquitous. Although mask wearing is a convenient way to reduce the spread of disease, it is important to know how the mask affects our communication via facial expression. For example, when we are wearing the mask and meet a friend, are our facial expressions different compared to when we are not? We investigated the effect of face mask wearing on facial expression, including the area around the eyes. We measured surface electromyography from zygomaticus major, orbicularis oculi, and depressor anguli oris muscles, when people smiled and talked with or without a mask. Only the actions of the orbicularis oculi were facilitated by wearing the mask. We thus concluded that mask wearing may increase the recruitment of the eyes during smiling. In other words, we can express joy and happiness even when wearing a face mask.

COVID-19 Prevalence and Prevention Behaviors Among US Certified Organic Producers.

Objective:There is a scarcity of data on the impact of the pandemic in farmers.Methods:Cross-sectional survey of certified organic producers through a 28-item self-reported paper or electronic survey. Analysis included descriptive statistics, Cronbach α to measure the internal consistency of a six-item prevention scale, and correlation and regression analyses.Results:A total of 344 records were computed. Infection rate among producers was 6.4%. Sex and farm size were the most statistically significant predictors of prevention behaviors. Women reported more use of prevention methods (β = 0.333, P < 0.001) and those with 50 or more certified organic acres reporting less use of prevention methods (β = –0.228, P < 0.001). Mask wearing was significantly related to lower COVID-19 prevalence.Conclusions:Determining prevalence and understanding how farmers follow prevention behaviors is essential for health care and public health interventions and policies.

Evaluation of a Graduated Exposure Procedure to Teach Extended Mask Wearing in Various Settings to Children With Autism.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommended that everyone 2 years and older wear a face mask while in a community setting. However, children with autism may be reluctant to wear a mask, particularly for extended durations. In the current study, we implemented a graduated exposure procedure to teach mask wearing for a minimum of 1 hour in an early intensive behavioral (EIBI) intervention clinic to three children diagnosed with autism. We subsequently probed mask wearing, and if necessary implemented the graduated exposure procedure, in each participant's home and in a mock physician's office. Finally, we collected probe data on mask wearing in another community setting and 1 month post-treatment maintenance data in the EIBI clinic. During baseline, participants wore masks for 0 second to 5 minutes. After treatment, all participants wore the mask for at least 1 hour in each setting, with maintenance probes indicating 4 to 5 hour mask tolerance.

Does Worrying Matter? Priming and Attitudes Toward Mask Wearing in a Midwestern State

Due to the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the use of protective measures (e.g., mask wearing and social distancing) has become an important public health concern. Despite being an effective and low-cost measure, mask wearing in the U.S. is a contentious issue. We investigated data coming from a natural experiment ( n = 1,993) collected in a Midwestern state where survey questions about mask wearing and COVID-19 were presented in a random order. Primed respondents ( n = 1,011), who answered COVID-19 related questions prior to the mask questions, indicated no differences in the efficacy of masks in stopping the spread of the virus compared to nonprimed respondents ( n = 982). However, primed respondents who were not worried about getting sick were 37% less likely to believe in the efficacy of masks compared the nonprimed, nonworried respondents. Nonworried respondents represent a high-risk group who are likely not to wear a mask. Implications for the messages used in public health campaigns to elicit a change in behaviors are discussed.

On the Flip Side of Mask Wearing: Increased Exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds and a Risk-Reducing Solution

Surgical masks have been worn by the public worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet hazardous chemicals in the petroleum-derived polymer layer of masks are currently ignored and unregulated. These organic compounds pose potential health risks to the mask wearer through dermal contact or inhalation. Here, we show that surgical masks from around the world are loaded with semivolatile and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including alkanes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalate esters, and reactive carbonyls at ng to μg/mask levels. Naphthalene was the most abundant mask-borne PAH, accounting for over 80% of total PAH levels; acrolein, a mutagenic carbonyl, was detected in most of the mask samples, and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, an androgen antagonist, was detected in one-third of the samples. Furthermore, there is large mask-to-mask variability of the residue VOCs, revealing the uneven quality of masks. We confirm that masks containing more residue VOCs lead to significantly higher exposure levels and associated disease risks to the wearer, which should warrant the attention of the general public and regulatory agencies. We find that heating the masks at 50 °C for as short as 60 min lowers the total VOC content by up to 80%, providing a simple method to limit our exposure to mask-borne VOCs.

The Effect of Mask Wearing on the Accuracy of Radiology Reports in an Academic Hospital Setting.

In response to the pandemic, some public health agencies recommend the wearing of surgical masks in indoor spaces including radiology common reporting rooms. We aim to demonstrate whether mask wearing may lead to increased errors incidence in radiology reports. Our prospective studywas conveyed in 2 parts. Firstly, the participants were surveyed if they believed that mask affected dictation. Then participants performed a dictation: they read artificial radiology reports using a commercial voice recognition (VR) system. They performed this task 5 times, each time donning a different mask in random order: a surgical mask, surgical visor, N-95, combination of 2 surgical masks and no mask. Error rates were compared with the Friedman test followed by pairwise Wilcoxon with bootstrapping. Multivariate Poisson regression was performed to test for interaction effects between potential predictors. 52 members of an academic radiology department participatedin the study (January - March 2021) . 65.4% of survey participants did not think or were not sure whether mask wearing could affect dictation process. Treating the no-mask condition as baseline, our study found that mean error rates significantly increased up to 2 times the baseline rate when a surgical mask, surgical visor, N-95 or a combination of 2 masks was donned (p < 0.0001). No significant differences in error rates were found between the different mask types (p > 0.05). Error rates were higher for participants with shorter VR training time (p < 0.0001) or who were non-native English speakers (p < 0.0001). There were no interaction effects between mask type, VR training time or English nativity, suggesting these variables to be independent predictors for error rate. Academic rank did not significantly affect the error rate. radiologists underestimate the influence of masks on dictation accuracy. mask wearing may lead to significant increase in dictational errors.

A Mask Wearing Detection System Based on Deep Learning

COVID-19 has dramatically changed people’s daily life. Wearing masks is considered as a simple but effective way to defend the spread of the epidemic. Hence, a real-time and accurate mask wearing detection system is important. In this paper, a deep learning-based mask wearing detection system is developed to help people defend against the terrible epidemic. The system consists of three important functions, which are image detection, video detection and real-time detection. To keep a high detection rate, a deep learning-based method is adopted to detect masks. Unfortunately, according to the suddenness of the epidemic, the mask wearing dataset is scarce, so a mask wearing dataset is collected in this paper. Besides, to reduce the computational cost and runtime, a simple online and real-time tracking method is adopted to achieve video detection and monitoring. Furthermore, a function is implemented to call the camera to real-time achieve mask wearing detection. The sufficient results have shown that the developed system can perform well in the mask wearing detection task. The precision, recall, mAP and F1 can achieve 86.6%, 96.7%, 96.2% and 91.4%, respectively.

Clinical Implications of Mask Wearing for Special Populations in an Inpatient Rehabilitation Setting during COVID-19 Global Pandemic

Research ObjectivesTo describe the clinical implications of wearing a mask among special populations in inpatient rehabilitation.DesignNarrative Review.SettingInpatient rehabilitation.ParticipantsPatients undergoing acute inpatient rehabilitation.InterventionsMask wearing.Main Outcome MeasuresEffect of mask wearing on exercise outcomes, including perceived exertion, shortness of breath, and patient perception; clinical implications for the interdisciplinary team.ResultsFive trials which observed exercise outcomes after mask wearing were identified and summarized. Findings for the effect of face masks on exercise and vital signs varied due to heterogeneity of exercise protocols and outcome measures. Relevant findings show that patients who wore masks had higher ratings of perceived exertion, increased shortness of breath, and feelings of claustrophobia while wearing a face mask during exercise. Wearing masks affected physical and mental outcomes despite exercise intensity (low, moderate, or high).ConclusionsModerate-to-high intensity exercise is needed for neuroplasticity. This type of exercise may not be possible in neurological populations, who do not have normal oxygen consumption at rest or with exercise, and may be further affected by wearing masks. Clinicians should their patients' mask wearing into consideration, and change the frequency, intensity, timing and types of exercises when patients are wearing a face mask. Frequent measurement of vital signs and fatigue symptoms are critical to maintain patient safety, and adjustments should be made as necessary. Other neurological challenges to monitor include impaired cognitive function, limited communication, reduced mood, and interactions with medications. These can affect the patients' ability to accurately determine and state their perceived effort or may hinder physiological and autonomic responses. Lastly, interdisciplinary teams should communicate patient findings related to mask wearing at team conferences, huddles and include discussion for ways to increase patients' participation and how to optimize health outcomes.Author(s) DisclosuresNone.

Personality and Its Partisan Political Correlates Predict U.S. State Differences in Covid-19 Policies and Mask Wearing Percentages.

A central feature of the Covid-19 pandemic is state differences. Some state Governors closed all but essential businesses, others did not. In some states, most of the population wore face coverings when in public; in other states, <50% wore face coverings. According to journalists, these differences were symptomatic of a politically polarized America. The Big 5 personality factors also cluster at the state level. For example, residents of Utah score high on Conscientiousness and low on Neuroticism, whereas residents of Massachusetts and Connecticut show the opposite pattern. In state-level regressions that controlled for partisan political allegiances, Conscientiousness was a significant (negative) predictor of the stringency of state Covid-19 restrictions, whereas Openness was a significant (positive) predictor of mask wearing. A number of the predictors were strongly correlated with each other. For example, the correlation coefficient linking Openness with the percentage of Democratic state legislators was r = 0.53. Commonality regression partitions the explained variance between the amount that is unique to each predictor and the amount that is shared among subsets of correlated predictors. This approach revealed that the common variance shared by Conscientiousness, Openness and partisan politics accounted for 34% of the state differences in Covid-19 policy and 35% of the state differences in mask wearing. The results reflect the importance of personality in how Americans have responded to the Covid-19 pandemic.

MASK UP! Supporting Mask Wearing of Children With Extensive Support Needs

Since the reopening of schools after COVID-19, students and staff have been required to wear face masks. Some students, including those with extensive support needs (ESN), may have difficulty in wearing these novel protective garments. Fortunately, researchers have demonstrated the effectiveness of several procedures for supporting the wearing of similar equipment (e.g., glasses, hearing aids). In this paper, we draw upon the available research to propose a protocol for teaching students with ESN to put on and maintain the use of face masks.

Keeping One’s Distance: Mask Wearing is Implicitly Associated With Psychological Distance

Mask wearing plays a vital role in the fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Despite its ubiquity in everyday social life, it is still unknown how masked faces are mentally represented. Drawing on construal-level theory, we test the hypothesis that masked faces and unmasked faces are implicitly associated with psychological distance and proximity in memory, respectively. Four preregistered, high-powered experiments (N = 354 adults) using the Implicit Association Test lend convergent support to this hypothesis across all four dimensions of psychological distance: social distance, spatial distance, temporal distance, and hypothetical distance. A mini meta-analysis validates the reliability of the findings (Hedge’s g = 0.46). The present work contributes to the growing literature on construal-level effects on implicit social cognition and enriches the current discussion on mask wearing in the pandemic and beyond.

Supplemental Material for Is the Messenger the Message? Canadian Political Affiliation and Other Predictors of Mask Wearing Frequency &amp; Attitudes During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Supplemental Material for Is the Messenger the Message? Canadian Political Affiliation and Other Predictors of Mask Wearing Frequency &amp; Attitudes During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Herd immunity: challenges and the way forward in Korea.

Vaccination is considered to be the most effective measure for preventing the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Many countries, including of Korea, are focusing on achieving herd immunity with the goal of reaching a vaccination rate of 70-80%. However, achieving herd immunity does not mean eradicating COVID-19, and the following challenges can occur in the process of achieving herd immunity. First, as the vaccination rate is likely to slow down over time, it is necessary to promote the benefits of vaccination through risk communication strategies and provide incentives for those who have been vaccinated. Second, a booster dose may be required depending on future studies on vaccine-induced immunity. Third, since variants capable of evading immunity and with higher transmissibility can emerge, rapid contract tracing and regular community genomic surveillance could help mitigate the impact of new variants. When the impact of COVID-19 is controlled to the level of seasonal influenza, the current public health measures that have been strictly imposed on society since the beginning of the pandemic will no longer be needed. The overall response strategy to COVID-19 will need to change accordingly, based on evaluations of the level of population immunity. These changes will include more efficient and targeted contact tracing and eased quarantine measures for vaccinated close contacts and travelers. Mask wearing and a minimum of social distancing will still be required in the journey towards the end of the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic will end, but the virus will not disappear.

Survey of Adherence with COVID-19 Prevention Behaviors During the 2020 Thanksgiving and Winter Holidays Among Members of the COVID-19 Community Research Partnership

Prevention behaviors represent important public health tools to limit spread of SARS-CoV-2. Adherence with recommended public health prevention behaviors among 20000 + members of a COVID-19 syndromic surveillance cohort from the mid-Atlantic and southeastern United States was assessed via electronic survey following the 2020 Thanksgiving and winter holiday (WH) seasons. Respondents were predominantly non-Hispanic Whites (90%), female (60%), and ≥ 50 years old (59%). Non-household members (NHM) were present at 47.1% of Thanksgiving gatherings and 69.3% of WH gatherings. Women were more likely than men to gather with NHM (p < 0.0001). Attending gatherings with NHM decreased with older age (Thanksgiving: 60.0% of participants aged < 30 years to 36.3% aged ≥ 70 years [p-trend < 0.0001]; WH: 81.6% of those < 30 years to 61.0% of those ≥ 70 years [p-trend < 0.0001]). Non-Hispanic Whites were more likely to gather with NHM than were Hispanics or non-Hispanic Blacks (p < 0.0001). Mask wearing, reported by 37.3% at Thanksgiving and 41.9% during the WH, was more common among older participants, non-Hispanic Blacks, and Hispanics when gatherings included NHM. In this survey, most people did not fully adhere to recommended public health safety behaviors when attending holiday gatherings. It remains unknown to what extent failure to observe these recommendations may have contributed to the COVID-19 surges observed following Thanksgiving and the winter holidays in the United States.

Individual-Level Heterogeneity in Mask Wearing during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Malaysia.

ABSTRACT.Wearing a face mask has been a key approach to contain or slow down the spread of COVID-19 in the ongoing pandemic. However, there is huge heterogeneity among individuals in their willingness to wear face masks during an epidemic. This research aims to investigate the individual heterogeneity to wear face masks and its associated predictors during the COVID-19 pandemic when mask-wearing was not mandatory. Based on a survey of 708 Malaysian adults and a multivariate least-squares fitting analysis, the results reveal a significant variance among individuals in wearing masks, as 34% of the individual adults did not always wear masks in public places. Female individuals, individuals who wash their hands more frequently, and those who reported more availability of personal protective equipment were more likely to practice mask-wearing. The identification of less-compliant groups of mask wearing has critical implications by enabling more specific health communication campaigns.