Our website is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Our fact check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook. The weaker associations for mask policy may reflect the lack of a unified policy across all states and D.C. and the inconsistent messaging by the media and government leaders. Based on data from various countries and U.S. states from May to September 2020, a preprint study published last June found that general mask wearing was associated with a reduction in virus transmission. Among states and D.C. with no mask wearing policy, 50 to 73% had high COVID-19 rates in the subsequent month. | Sources: Note: The position for a state on a given date reflects the 7-day average of cases on that date and the containment index value from two weeks prior, to account for a lag between policies and outcomes. (Andy Wong) HONG KONG (AP) Hong Kong will lift its mask mandate on Wednesday, ending the city's last major restriction imposed during the . "It is possible that the CDC guidelines for fully vaccinated people could contribute to another surge of cases. For example, mask wearing in the two weeks before rates begin to rise might be a more sensitive way to measure the association. Outbreaks are comparatively smaller in states where efforts to contain the virus were stronger over the summer and fall potential good news for leaders taking action now. Both mask policy and mask adherence for states and D.C. were cross-tabulated with high case rates in the subsequent month. We recommend renewed efforts be employed to improve adherence to mask wearing. Nevertheless, it is possible that average mask adherence in a given month does not capture the most effective time period that influences COVID-19 rates. Conceptualization, The graph for New York, which also had a statewide mask mandate, looks very much like the graph for California, but with an earlier peak. Clearly you dont want to wait too long because thats the mistake we made last time, when things spun out of control. When the initial spring wave in 2020 subsided, public officials and journalists claimed that the mandates had worked, and they kept up the pretense even when Covid surged again later that year despite the continuing mandates. More could be on the way. When Can I Go to the Movie Theater Again After Being Fully Vaccinated? Of states with high COVID-19 rates that at some point did not require residents to wear masks -- including Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire,. Masks prevent you from inhaling or exhaling viral droplets that can linger in the air. Parents have pushed for the mask mandate to be lifted for a number of reasons. Jocelyn Solis-Moreira is a journalist specializing in health and science news. What theyre looking at here is efficacy of mask mandates. For a while, the residents were spared. Over the course of the pandemic, the scientific evidence and our understanding of masks have grown. Beyond the question of how effective masking is in practice, there is the question of what impact mask mandates have on behavior. Prior to adopting mask mandates, those municipalities that eventually adopted mandates had higher transmission rates than the rest of the state, with the mean case rate difference per 100,000 people increasing by 0.32 cases per day (slope of difference = 0.32; 95% CI 0.13 to 0.51). But a new study examines how the value of these actions also came with costs. Verywell Health's content is for informational and educational purposes only. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, March 5, ", U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nov. 27, 2020, ", Health Affairs, June 16 2020, "Community Use Of Face Masks And COVID-19: Evidence From A Natural Experiment Of State Mandates In The US", Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America, Dec. 3, 2020, ", U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Feb. 12, ", CDC: Face masks dont prevent COVID-19, study finds masks have negligible impact on coronavirus numbers., Association of State-Issued Mask Mandates and Allowing On-Premises Restaurant Dining with County-Level COVID-19 Case and Death Growth Rates United States, March 1December 31, 2020, Trends in County-Level COVID-19 Incidence in Counties With and Without a Mask Mandate Kansas, June 1August 23, 2020, Governor Laura Kelly Announces Masks Must be Worn Statewide, Differences in rapid increases in county-level COVID-19 incidence by implementation of statewide closures and mask mandates United States, June 1September 30, 2020, Germany to oblige mandatory face masks from Monday, Face masks considerably reduce COVID-19 cases in Germany, Decline in COVID-19 Hospitalization Growth Rates Associated with Statewide Mask Mandates 10 States, MarchOctober 2020, subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States of America, Roles Charlie B. Fischer, Many of the states without a mask mandate had low mask adherence and high COVID-19 rates. | Study: States With Mask Mandates Saw Fewer Summertime COVID Cases. Investigation, In the United States, policies on mask wearing have varied from state to state over the course of the pandemic. Experts interviewed by USA TODAY said the One America News Network had "misinterpreted" or "mischaracterized" the findings of the CDC study. States with the lowest levels of mask adherence were most likely to have high COVID-19 rates in the subsequent month, independent of mask policy or demographic factors. All the state does is encourage Alaskans to do their part to limit the spread of Covid-19, recommending that residents practice social distancing and wear a mask, without any mandate. Coronavirus cases are rising in almost every U.S. state. | We abstracted daily percentages of the population who say they always wear a mask in public. Conceptualization, In contrast, average adherence was 68% in the 15 states with lower COVID-19 rates in October and any mask policy in September. Data on population distributions from the COVID-19 US State Policy Database [13] came from the US Census. We did estimate odds ratios for mask adherence within subgroups of states with and without mask policy. Of course, many other factors are could be at play, like the possibility of cooler weather driving non-adherent persons to indoor gatherings. The claim that a CDC study found face masks to have a negligible effect on the spread of COVID-19 is FALSE. PLOS ONE promises fair, rigorous peer review, Several cities and large counties, including Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Hillsborough (which includes Tampa), had mask requirements, but Gov. Jacob Sullum is a senior editor at Reason. The study used county-level data from March 1 through Dec. 31 of last year, comparing data from before mandates tookeffect to the time period when they were in place. R-0 may be the most important scientific term youve never heard of when it comes to stopping the coronavirus pandemic. Fact check: Masks and vaccines are effective at combating COVID-19 spread. To reduce the rate of COVID-19 cases nationwide, Werler says people need to wear their masks. Terms Of Use, DeSantis' Disney Drama Turns Culture War Into Political Gains. Discover a faster, simpler path to publishing in a high-quality journal. Meantime, the medias favorite experts kept predicting doom for states that never mandated masks, like Florida, or that ended the mandates early in 2021, like Iowa, whose policy shift was denounced as reckless and delusional in a Washington Post article headlined, Welcome to Iowa, a state that doesnt care if you live or die. Iowas Covid death toll plummeted right after the article appeared. Theyre suffering from mask dependency, as this psychological affliction is termed in Japan, where a long tradition of mask-wearing during flu season has left some individuals afraid at any time to expose their faces in public. Individuals mask wearing behaviors are not only influenced by recommendations and mandates issued by state leaders, but also by print, televised, and social media [9]. Further analyses of more granular geographic regions would be a logical next step. May 16, 2021 / 7:07 AM / CBS News. 3.1.2023 8:00 AM, 2022 Reason Foundation | You cansubscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here. 2023 Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Yes Over the course of the pandemic, both Iowa and Florida have done better than the national average in measures of Covid mortality as well as overall excess mortality (the number of deaths more than normal from all causes). If you've seen pictures of those kids, you know they are not necessarily using masks as intended. Data curation, Coronavirus: How R-0 can be used to fight COVID-19. Many have also done the least to contain the virus. + Caption. Virginia. As you can see from the lines similar trajectories, the mask mandates hardly controlled the virus. Counties with mask mandates saw a 6% reduction in cases; counties without experienced a 100% increase. Covering up may give the maskaholics a false sense of securitybut they could breathe more easily if theyd just face the facts. | Jacob Sullum One America News Network zeroed in on a portion of the report that outlines the slowing rate of infections and deaths after mask mandates were put in place. How Are States Responding to CDC Mask Guidelines? This protective effect of mask wearing was evident across four months of the pandemic, even after adjusting the associations for mask policy, distance policy, and demographic factors. Jha thinks vaccination rates areanother important factor: While "only 59% of eligible Florida seniors have gotten boosted," he notes, the rate for California is 70 percent. Yes For policies on physical distancing, we recorded whether a stay-at-home order was issued and, if so, when. Our analyses took into consideration the delayed effect of mask wearing and policies on COVID-19 health outcomes. The study also found a statistically significant increase in the rate of COVID-19 infections and deaths starting 40 days after indoor or outdoor dining at restaurants was allowed. No, Is the Subject Area "Conservation science" applicable to this article? Mean COVID-19 rates for states with 75% mask adherence in the preceding month was 109.26 per 100,000 compared to 249.99 per 100,000 for those with less adherence. Mr. Hale said the Oxford data makes it clear that acting quickly and forcefully is the best shot governments have to combat the virus. Of note, there were no states with 75% in September. Some reopened quickly and saw cases rise. The CDC's report is the latestin a growing body of evidence establishing mask mandates as an effective strategy in curbing the virus. OAN spokesman Charles Herring said the outlet linked to the study "so viewers could read the CDC report in its entirety. Most states in the low quartile had high COVID-19 rates in the subsequent month. Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); NEXT: The FBI Seized Almost $1 Million From This Familyand Never Charged Them With a Crime. As of Aug. 3, Louisiana is under a temporary statewide mask mandate required of all people, including those who are vaccinated, when indoors. For every 1% increase in average adherence in June, the fully adjusted odds ratios for high COVID-19 in July was 0.95, indicating a protective effect against high COVID-19 rates. If this hasnt persuaded you to take off your mask, you can find lots more reasons in a book by Ian Miller, the data analyst who created the graph for City Journal. Most states imposed tight restrictions in the spring even if they did not have bad outbreaks then. Even as more and more states encourage or even mandate mask wearing, many citizens still resist the notion. More state leaders acted to strike down mask mandates on Thursday, citing a decline in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Its Legacy Is Disastrous. No, Is the Subject Area "Public policy" applicable to this article? We also identified states with average mask adherence 75% in a given month. Without strong national guidance, states containment policies have varied widely. The adoption of universal masking policies is increasingly polarized and politicized, demanding that public health authorities balance the values of health and individual liberty. The mandates typically began early in the pandemic in 2020 and remained until at least the summer of 2021, with some extending into 2022. The list of states with high COVID-19 rates by month shows the initial wave in northeastern states in May, followed by a wave in southern states, and then spreading across the U.S. over the next four months (Table 2). We calculated the average mask use percentage by month for AprilSeptember, 2020. When Can I Dine Indoors Again After Being Fully Vaccinated? If Florida's case numbers understate the true number of infections more than California's do, that could partially explain the difference in COVID-19 deaths per capita. When the state faced a surge of cases over the summer, the governor closed bars and placed limits on restaurant capacity. Read on to find out whyand to ensure . "We feel the time is right to make this . The proportions of states with high COVID-19 rates are shown for those in the low and high quartiles of mask adherence in the preceding month (Fig 1). High school students in Seattle staged a protest demanding that a mask mandate be reinstated, and psychologists now deal with the anxieties of children who dont want their classmates to see their faces. We divided the monthly number by 2.2 to obtain the number in a two-week period (43,088). Nedghie Adrien, Roles Its a difficult addiction to overcome, according to the Japanese therapists who specialize in treating itbut a simple remedy might help some maskaholics. Meanwhile, the eight states that reported 75% or more mask adherence between June 2020 and September 2020 did not have high COVID-19 rates. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yes Even as more and more states encourage or even mandate mask wearing, many citizens sti A recent study shows that states with high levels of mask-wearing reported fewer COVID-19 cases last summer. Their cumulative rates of Covid mortality were virtually identical, too (in fact, there were slightly more deaths per capita in the states with mask mandates). If you add up all the numbers on those two lines, you find that the mask mandates made zero difference. The Power of Bad: How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) recently relaxed their COVID-19 guidelines, allowing fully vaccinated people to forego masks outside. Containment measures are as of Nov. 1. However, Werler says her team did find substantial amounts of variation that could suggest other factors beyond mandatessuch as political affiliationcould be at play. In contrast, 25% or fewer states with a mask wearing policy had high COVID-19 rates, except in September when over half experienced high rates. For mask adherence, the cut-off values for the low and high quartiles were 31% and 46% in June, 53% and 72% in July, 55% and 71% in August, and 55% and 68% in September. Its been piecemeal, Dr. El-Sadr said. Writing original draft, "Arizona surprised me because they went from having the second-lowest mask adherence in May and June [less than 22%] to the highest level in July and August [greater than 80%]. For mask policy and adherence in September in relation to high COVID-19 rates in October, collinearity caused the odds ratio to flip. 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