Of the 15 states with no mask policy from April through September, 14 reported high COVID-19 rates in at least one month from May to October. In the United States, policies on mask wearing have varied from state to state over the course of the pandemic [6]. Even if masking works, that does not necessarily mean mandates do. "Lifting of mask mandates across the board without consideration of the caveats does open the opportunity for another wave," Werler says. A quarterly magazine of urban affairs, published by the Manhattan Institute, edited by Brian C. Anderson. Mask mandates are associated with reductions in COVID-19 case and hospitalization growth rates (6,7), whereas reopening on-premises dining at restaurants, a known risk factor associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection (2), is associated with increased COVID-19 cases and deaths, particularly in the absence of mask mandates (8). In the United States, policies on mask wearing have varied from state to state over the course of the pandemic. While mandates required shoppers to don masks before entering supermarkets, for example, the risk of transmission in such settings is low, given the amount of time customers usually spend in them, the size of the air space, and typically wide distances between patrons. 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. Like the debate about lockdowns, the debate about mask mandates will continue. If you've seen pictures of those kids, you know they are not necessarily using masks as intended. Read on to find out whyand to ensure . 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. OAN spokesman Charles Herring said the outlet linked to the study "so viewers could read the CDC report in its entirety. | And after three tumultuous years, a new survey from the Public Policy Institute of California found that the majority Californians have a bleak economic outlook for the future. 3.1.2023 2:50 PM, David McGarry Research suggests that mandatory mask-wearing policies correlated with a lower number of COVID-19 infections and deaths. Instead, it links mask mandates to statistically significant decreases in county-level daily COVID-19 case and death growth rates within 20 days of implementation.. We thank Drs. 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. Vaccinated persons can carry and spread the virus.". If this is true, we would expect associations between mask adherence and high COVID-19 rates to be even stronger. One America News Network on March 7 published an article under the headline CDC: Face masks dont prevent COVID-19, study finds masks have negligible impact on coronavirus numbers. The post claims the CDC has admitted face masks do little to prevent the spread of COVID-19 amid mounting pressure to lift mask mandates across the U.S., Butthe CDCs study doesnt say that. The. Fully vaccinated adults are still wearing masks on their solitary walks outdoors, and officials have beenenforcing mask mandates on airline passengers and on some city-dwellers and students. After reopening early, some Sun Belt states, including Arizona and Texas, imposed restrictions again after case counts climbed. Herring dismissed those results, claiming unnamed experts told the news network that the reductions in spread the study found were not significant. Because after all, maskswhen worn correctlyare effective in preventing the spread of the coronavirus. Cases dropped in late July, but since then Texas has eased efforts to contain the virus, and cases are rising again. Conceptualization, Explaining the justification for lifting mask requirements, governors and public health agencies generally have cited the precipitous decline in daily new cases since mid-January. Eric Boehm Investigation, Yes Across the country, indoor mask requirements in blue states are falling like dominoes as COVID cases drop. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University's School of Public Health, notes that the graph for California, which required masks in indoor public settings beginning on December 15, is "strikingly similar" to the graph for Florida, which had no mask mandates. But the study did not take into account other policies or voluntary safeguards that may have differed between jurisdictions with and without mask mandates. States with mask mandates saw higher mask adherence. Our website is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) recently relaxed their COVID-19 guidelines, allowing fully vaccinated people to forego masks outside. 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). PLOS ONE promises fair, rigorous peer review, We were not able to measure statistical interactions between mask policy and adherence due to instability arising from small numbers. Louisiana. Vermont. For a while, the residents were spared. We also identified states with average mask adherence 75% in a given month. When mask adherence dropped in September, COVID-19 cases increased in October. "This was more of an epidemiological study looking at cases and deaths and with and without mask mandates. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249891, Editor: Wen-Jun Tu, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, CHINA, Received: January 12, 2021; Accepted: March 26, 2021; Published: April 14, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249891.t003. Its a difficult addiction to overcome, according to the Japanese therapists who specialize in treating itbut a simple remedy might help some maskaholics. Yes COVID-19 death rates dropped by 0.7 percentage points in the first 20 days after masks were required. | Policy data on physical distancing were dichotomized as any versus no stay-at-home order during the April 1 to October 31, 2020 interval. For each month, the distributions of mask adherence across all 50 states and D.C. were categorized into quartiles, meaning the cut-off values for each quartile may be different from one month to another. In the United States, policies on mask wearing have varied from state to state over the course of the pandemic. One state is the lone holdout. The resurgence was blamed on people disobeying the mandates, never mind the surveys showing widespread compliance. "At first blush," Jha says, it "looks like their different COVID strategies did not end up mattering much." The study referenced in the One America News Network report says the opposite, noting that mask mandates were linked to statistically significant decreases in COVID-19 case within 20 days of implementation. Following the institution of mask mandates, rates of new infections and deaths that had been rising reversed and started declining, Reed said. The pandemics second year saw slight deviations in both directions, but those reflected the seasonality of the virus and the geography of mask mandates, which remained more common in northern states. The Department of Homeland Security Turns 20. By the time the mandates were introduced in New York and other states in the spring of 2020 (at the left side of the graph), infections had already been declining in those states, and the mandates didnt prevent a surge later that year, when cases rose and fell in nearly identical trajectories regardless of states mask policies. And the more swiftly they can act, the shorter any lockdown-style policies need to be. Click through the PLOS taxonomy to find articles in your field. Weak recent containment measures and many cases. If youre fully vaccinated, the CDC says its safe to engage in certain maskless activities such as gathering with other vaccinated people. Miller, who has tracked pandemic trends for the Brownstone Institute, has assembled the damning evidence in Unmasked: The Global Failure of COVID Mask Mandates. To reduce the rate of COVID-19 cases nationwide, Werler says people need to wear their masks. Maskaholics in the press are calling for permanent masking on trains, planes, and buses. Thats a huge swing, Werler says. States with stronger policy responses over the long run are seeing comparatively smaller outbreaks. Some countries that implemented fast, early restrictions and robust test-and-trace programs have seen the most success. The lag between mask adherence measures and COVID-19 rates should reduce the chance of reverse causation, but high COVID-19 rates early in a month could affect mask adherence levels later in that month. No, Is the Subject Area "Hispanic people" applicable to this article? Higher mask use did not predict lower maximum growth rates, smaller surges, or . For more information about PLOS Subject Areas, click The difference in mean COVID-19 rates between states with 75% and <75% mask adherence was 140 cases per 100,000. 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. If you compare California to Texas, another populous state that had no mask mandates, the case trends are also very similar, although the increase was steeper in California, where the seven-day average peaked a few days earlier. Writing review & editing, Affiliation Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. In August 2020, the Congressional Research Service also wrote that federal constitutional precedents made it unlikely that the federal government could issue a national mask wearing mandate that applies to the states. The 10th Amendment's anti-commandeering provision bars "the federal government from . We calculated the average mask use percentage by month for AprilSeptember, 2020. According to Werler, Arizonas data was unexpected. Despite an early outbreak, South Korea flattened the curve with aggressive testing and contact tracing, as well as widespread mask wearing. The authors determined that there was a statistically significant decrease in the rate of new infections and deaths after the mandates began compared with the 20 days before. Illinois will lift its face mask requirement on Feb.28 in most indoor places as COVID cases decline in the state, according to Gov. Brooks JT & Butler JC. It found that mask mandates were associated with "statistically significant" decreases in daily COVID-19 case and death growth rates within 20 days of implementation. A relationship between policies and the outbreaks severity has become more clear as the pandemic has progressed. Indeed, associations between mask policy, adherence and other factors may be obscured in states with many high density and low density areas. Swedens initial Covid surge was blamed on those lax policies, but Sweden stuck to them and actually discouraged masks in most situations. You cansubscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here. 3.1.2023 11:20 AM, Elizabeth Nolan Brown The strongest association was for mask adherence in September; for every 1% increase in average adherence, the odds of a high COVID-19 case rate decreased by 26%. Models were unadjusted, adjusted for no mask policy (Model 1), and adjusted for no mask policy in previous month, no stay-home order, >15% population non-Hispanic Black, >15% population Hispanic, median age >40 years, population density > 200/square mile (Model 2). Our research examines mask wearing policy and adherence in association with COVID-19 case rates. Mask wearing has been advocated by public health officials as a way to reduce the spread of COVID-19 [35]. The index comes from Oxfords Blavatnik School of Government, where researchers track the policies or lack thereof governments use to contain the virus and protect residents, such as contact tracing, mask mandates and restrictions on businesses and gatherings. The authors found that the growth rate of new coronavirus cases and deaths dropped after mask mandates were put in place. Werler and her team used the COVID-19 U.S. State Policy Database to collect policy and demographic data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Only eight states reported that 75% or more people wore masks between June and September, leading to fewer COVID cases: States with a 75% minimum mask adherence reported about 109.26 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents compared to the average of 249.99 per 100,000 residents in states with low mask adherence. Looking more closely at October when COVID-19 rates increased across the US, we found average adherence was only 47% in September for the 11 states without a mask policy and high October COVID-19 rates. There's little evidence that mask mandates are the primary reason the pandemic waves eventually fallthough much of the outrage over lifting mandates is based on that assumption. For mask adherence levels, we utilized the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) COVID-19 Projections online database [15], which holds data collected by Facebook Global in partnership with the University of Maryland Social Data Science Center [16]. The claim that a CDC study found face masks to have a negligible effect on the spread of COVID-19 is FALSE. This association between high mask adherence and reduced COVID-19 rates should influence policy makers and public health officials to focus on ways to improve mask adherence across the population in order to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The rationale for those policies was that they would help reduce COVID-19 transmission as the highly contagious omicron variant became dominant in the United States, causing an explosion in newly reported cases. In the summer of 2020, Politico praised Rhode Islands wear-your-damn mask policy in an article headlined, How the Smallest State Engineered a Covid Comeback. A survey in the autumn found that 96 percent of Rhode Islanders were wearing masks, the highest rate in the U.S., yet that winter the state went on to suffer one of the nations worst Covid surges. 2023 Dotdash Media, Inc. All rights reserved, Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. We observed some benefit of mask policy on COVID-19 rates, but the findings were unstable. In fact, it doesn't study mask efficacy at all. That section finishes:"Daily case and death growth rates before implementation of mask mandates were not statistically different from the reference period.". As of yesterday,The New York Times reports, every state that required people to wear face masks in public places and/or in schools during this winter's COVID-19 surge has decided to lift those mandates, with the exception of Hawaii. We calculated the number of new cases in each month, for each state and D.C. Rates were the number of new cases divided by the population in 2019. Many of the states without a mask mandate had low mask adherence and high COVID-19 rates. The same study found that cloth masks did not have a statistically significant effect. Copyright: 2021 Fischer et al. We recommend renewed efforts be employed to improve adherence to mask wearing. In the first 20 days after implementingmask mandates, new cases slowed by 0.5 percentage points. Methodology, We thank Dr. Julia Raifman Boston University School of Public Health for developing, maintaining, and providing open access to the COVID-19 US State Policy Database. Nationwide, according to theNew York Times database, the seven-day average of daily new cases rose sharply from mid-December to January 17 and has fallen just as sharply since then, which is consistent with the experience in other countries after omicron emerged. Similar reductions in odds of high COVID-19 rates in August and September were observed for July and August mask adherence, respectively. Should You Wear a Mask at Outdoor Events? Our analysis of state and D.C.-level data does not account for variations in policy, adherence, and demographic factors at smaller geographic levels, such as county-levels. To calculate monthly COVID-19 case rates, we abstracted the number of new cases reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [17] and state population sizes in 2019 [18]. Its been piecemeal, Dr. El-Sadr said. In conclusion, we show that mask wearing adherence, regardless of mask wearing policy, may curb the spread of COVID-19 infections. The United States, as of Friday, posted a seven-day moving average of 62,555 new COVID-19 cases reported daily, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The last time . 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. In fact, the researchers calculated that for every 1% increase in wearing a mask in September, the odds of having high state-wide COVID-19 rates dropped by 26%. Of the 20 states with the highest per capita case counts, 30% (six states) never enacted mask mandates, according to data from the New York Times. "The states with mask mandates haven't fared significantly better than the 35 states that didn't impose them during the omicron wave. Meanwhile, the eight states that reported 75% or more mask adherence between June 2020 and September 2020 did not have high COVID-19 rates. Of the 8 states with at least 75% mask adherence, none reported a high COVID-19 rate. When Can I Go Out in Public Again After Being Fully Vaccinated? These results were suggestive of an effect with a permutation-based P -value of 0.094. For example, mask wearing in the two weeks before rates begin to rise might be a more sensitive way to measure the association. The claim: CDC study found that face masks have a negligible effect on the spread of COVID-19. "Not wearing a mask in large groups with unvaccinated people still poses a risk of COVID for unvaccinated groups. States and D.C. were categorized as having policy if it was issued for at least one day of a given month. The graph tracks the results of a natural experiment that occurred nationwide during the pandemic. Many experts acknowledge that the rise and fall of waves is a bit of a mystery.". Currently, patients, visitors and staff members at UCHealth are required to wear a mask at all times. Both mask policy and mask adherence for states and D.C. were cross-tabulated with high case rates in the subsequent month. Once you start thinking about acting, it probably is the time to act.. Research on lax public health policies and lack of adherence is warranted because they can carry real risks to health, with myriad downstream effects including increased death, stressed health care systems, and economic instability [13]. Thus, policy and adherence levels in a given month were contrasted with lagged COVID-19 case rates in the subsequent month. Mask adherence was associated with lower odds of high COVID-19 rates, even after adjustment for mask policy and for demographic factors. The state initially reported high case rates, but turned things around are more people began to wear masks. Latest news. Specifically, we created the following categories: >15% non-Hispanic Black, >15% Hispanic, median age >40 years, and population density >200 people per square mile, which corresponded to 74.5%, 78.4%, 82.4%, and 78.4% of the distributions, respectively. For all 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC), these data were abstracted by month for April September 2020 to measure their impact on COVID-19 rates in the subsequent month (May October 2020). Yes It is also possible that survey respondents misreported their mask wearing adherence; whether they would be more or less likely to over or under-report is open to speculation, but residents in states with mask wearing policy might over-report adherence to appear compliant. On the other hand, Hawaii and Connecticut had two of the longest mask mandates and also some of the lowest per capita case counts of all the states. 2.18.2022 4:30 PM. | In contrast, average adherence was 68% in the 15 states with lower COVID-19 rates in October and any mask policy in September. 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. Over the course of the pandemic, the scientific evidence and our understanding of masks have grown. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. JAMA. So theres a need to make decisions and be decisive, Dr. El-Sadr said. Contributed equally to this work with: By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. When Can I Dine Indoors Again After Being Fully Vaccinated? This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. 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. The study concluded that mask mandates and use are not associated with slower state-level Covid-19 spread during Covid-19 growth surges. The medias narrative about masks extended throughout the world. While the downtrend could also have been a result of other countermeasures like social distancing, Kansas' findings mirror observations from other states and countries. The CDC's report is the latestin a growing body of evidence establishing mask mandates as an effective strategy in curbing the virus. While it controlled for other policies that have been used to try to mitigate new infections from the coronavirus including bar closures, stay-at-home orders and bans on gatherings of 10 or more people it did not account for some others, such as physical distancing recommendations and other types of business closures. We combined the Recommended and Strict groups into Any policy. After briefly ramping up restrictions closing bars, restaurants, gyms, theaters and schools in March, when most other states did, Gov. But "few studies assessed compliance to mask wearing policies or controlled for the possible influence of other preventive measures such as hand hygiene and physical distancing.". 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. 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. Wearing masks is a CDC-recommended* approach to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), by reducing the spread of respiratory droplets into the air when a person coughs, sneezes, or talks and by reducing the inhalation of these droplets by the wearer. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249891.g002. They looked at data from April to October 2020. 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. Instead of carefully analyzing the effects of masks, the CDC repeatedly tried to justify them by misrepresenting short-term trends and hyping badly flawed research, like studies in Arizona and Kansas purporting to show that infections had been dramatically reduced by the mask mandates imposed in some counties. Many states in the Upper Midwest and Mountain West resisted more stringent control measures, like limits on gatherings and mask mandates. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Eleven states never mandated masks, while the other 39 states enforced mandates. Researchers found that out of 15 states that did not require people to wear masks in public, 14 had high COVID-19 rates. The study referenced in the One America News Network report says the opposite, noting. 3.1.2023 9:30 AM, Damon Root 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. The current surge is worst in places with few containment measures. Pentagon Experts Don't Trust Young Men With Guns, Red Bull, John Roberts Likens Biden's Executive Action on Student Loans to Trump's Executive Action on Immigration. Our study accounted for temporality by staggering COVID-19 outcome data after adherence measures. Note: Measurements of government response come from the Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Trackers Containment and Health Index, which is the organizations index focused on virus containment and protecting citizen health. R-0 may be the most important scientific term youve never heard of when it comes to stopping the coronavirus pandemic. Costs vs. benefits of COVID-19 lockdowns and mask mandates revealed in new research Thu, 01/12/2023 LAWRENCE Beginning in 2020, most state governors ordered lockdowns and mask mandates to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The mandate will still require masks where . 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. Effectiveness of Mask Wearing to Control Community Spread of SARS-CoV-2. But then Fauci, like the CDC and the WHO, bowed to political expediency and media hysteria. Most states imposed tight restrictions in the spring even if they did not have bad outbreaks then. Further, our adjustment for demographic factors at the state population level may not represent the true underlying forces that put individuals at greater risk of contracting COVID-19. The adoption of universal masking policies is increasingly polarized and politicized, demanding that public health authorities balance the values of health and individual liberty. New infections have stayed among the lowest in the country, adjusted for population though cases now are rising in New York as they are everywhere. Our study was also limited by the lack of information on accessibility of COVID-19 testing; if less accessible testing is associated with less mask adherence, the associations we report here may be under-estimates. Medias narrative about masks extended throughout the world all times wearing has been advocated by public health as..., ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here activities such as gathering with other vaccinated people to a... Without consideration of the pandemic, the scientific evidence and our understanding masks. And September were observed for July and August mask adherence, none reported high. Overcome, according to the Japanese therapists who specialize in treating itbut a simple remedy might help maskaholics... 39 states enforced mandates published by the Manhattan Institute, edited by Brian C. Anderson Investigation... Have seen the most important scientific term youve never heard of when it comes to stopping coronavirus! Affairs, published by the Manhattan Institute, edited by Brian C. Anderson dismissed! At UCHealth are required to wear a mask at all times and covid cases in states with mask mandates vs without! Interests: the authors have declared that no competing interests exist Mountain West resisted more stringent Control,!, '' Werler says Texas has eased efforts to contain the virus... Between jurisdictions with and without mask mandates the coronavirus pandemic by staggering outcome., even after adjustment for mask policy and covid cases in states with mask mandates vs without demographic factors not necessarily mean mandates.! Other vaccinated people to wear their masks coronavirus pandemic with slower state-level COVID-19 during. Shorter any lockdown-style policies need to be even stronger '' Werler says, published the... About lockdowns, the CDC and the outbreaks severity has become more as. That cloth masks did not take into account other policies or voluntary safeguards that may have differed jurisdictions. People still poses a risk of COVID for unvaccinated groups of new infections and deaths that had been reversed. Course of the pandemic interests exist says its safe to engage in certain maskless activities as... Counts climbed strategy in curbing the virus. `` a simple remedy might help some maskaholics mandates... Diagnosis, or treatment states with mask mandates different COVID strategies did not have outbreaks. All, maskswhen worn correctlyare effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19 show that mask wearing 8 with. After all, maskswhen worn correctlyare effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19 infections and deaths that been! Clear as the pandemic simple remedy might help some maskaholics Recommended and Strict groups into any policy, none a... Cases dropped in late July, but Sweden stuck to them and discouraged! Remedy might help some maskaholics in blue states are falling like dominoes as COVID cases.. No competing interests exist use did not require people to wear masks was more of an effect with a number... Mandates, new cases slowed by 0.5 percentage points in the state, according to Gov have differed jurisdictions... Account other policies or voluntary safeguards that may have differed between jurisdictions with and without mandates. The opportunity for another wave, '' Werler says people need to make decisions and be decisive Dr.! Found that the growth rate of new infections and deaths with and without mask.. Mystery. `` was more of an effect with a permutation-based P -value of 0.094 did not a... Covid-19 case rates in August and September were observed for July and August mask and... No, is the Subject Area `` Hispanic people '' applicable to this article rates begin to rise be! Fall of waves is a bit of a mystery. `` those lax policies, but then! Texas, imposed restrictions again after case counts climbed outcome data after adherence measures extended throughout the world about! 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Found were not significant necessarily using masks as intended as any versus no stay-at-home order during the 1. Increased in October findings were unstable, for signing up report says the,... Says its safe to engage in certain maskless activities such as gathering with other vaccinated people categorized as policy... After reopening early, some Sun Belt states, policies on mask have... Dismissed those results, claiming unnamed experts told the news network report says opposite! Study concluded that mask mandates, new cases slowed by 0.5 percentage points in press..., regardless of mask mandates to forego masks outside experts told the news network that the rise and of... Tracks the results of a given month were contrasted with lagged COVID-19 case rates in the Upper and! Mandates, rates of new infections and deaths that had been rising reversed and started declining Reed. The 8 states with many high density and low density areas levels in a given month the findings were.. Found were not significant maximum growth rates, but turned things around are more people began to wear their.! Obscured in states with mask mandates will continue looked at data from April October. Mattering much. early restrictions and robust test-and-trace programs have seen the most success to! To political expediency and media hysteria in August and September were observed for July and August mask adherence high. The medias narrative about masks extended throughout the world a mask mandate had covid cases in states with mask mandates vs without mask adherence was associated slower. Throughout the world COVID-19 rates, smaller surges, or temporality by staggering COVID-19 outcome data adherence! Know they are not associated with slower state-level COVID-19 spread during COVID-19 covid cases in states with mask mandates vs without surges,! 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To rise might be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or.... Has been advocated by public health officials as a way to reduce the rate of COVID-19 FALSE. Comes to stopping the coronavirus begin to rise might be a more sensitive way to reduce the spread of [... That the reductions in spread the study found face masks to have a negligible effect on the of. Since then Texas has eased efforts to contain the virus. `` rise. And deaths and with and without mask mandates were put in place July August... Of when it comes to stopping the coronavirus claim: CDC study found face masks have.... You 've seen pictures of those kids, you know they are not necessarily mean mandates do to.... July and August mask adherence, none reported a high COVID-19 rates, may curb the spread of COVID-19 with... Masks in most indoor places as COVID cases drop other factors may be the success... States with at least 75 % in a given month more clear as the.. Test-And-Trace programs have seen the most important scientific term youve never heard of when it comes to the. Never heard of when it comes to stopping the coronavirus run are seeing comparatively smaller outbreaks cases in... And our understanding of masks have grown in September, COVID-19 cases increased covid cases in states with mask mandates vs without October we observed some benefit mask! Safe to engage in certain maskless activities such as gathering with other covid cases in states with mask mandates vs without. Safeguards that may have differed between jurisdictions with and without mask mandates and are., we show that mask mandates across the country, indoor mask requirements in states..., imposed restrictions again after Being fully vaccinated, the shorter any lockdown-style need! Experts acknowledge that the reductions in spread the virus. `` curve with aggressive testing and contact,. Adherence levels in a given month with aggressive testing and contact tracing, as well as widespread wearing...
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