Accepted Articles

Abstract: 

SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus also known as COVID-19, has caused a global pandemic, claiming the lives of over 3 million people, and counting. Governments and local polities have implemented public health mandates to reduce the spread, including mask-wearing, a policy that remains controversial. The aim of this study was to examine how effective strict enforcement of mask-wearing policies is in reducing COVID-19 infection rates. A total of 30 countries and subnational political jurisdictions were selected using Text Finder’s random choice generator, then sorted into three categories of mask enforcement: strict, moderate, and lax, characterized by punishments, non-enforcement, or lack of precautions. The percent changes in cases were recorded over a 3-month period prior to and after the declaration of mask mandates for each locality, then analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test to rank the three categories. The mean rankings from greatest to least were: lax (24.90), moderate (12.90), and strict (8.70). The Kruskal-Wallis test result was H(2)= 18.240, P=.000. Locations with stricter mask policies had lower infection rates. Therefore, it was concluded that strictly enforced mask policies were most effective in limiting COVID-19 transmission. Confounding variables include political agendas, the sway of public opinions, and a transient lack of data on COVID. Future research could analyze the effectiveness of mask enforcement in locations with different COVID-19 variants.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, masks, infection rates, mask enforcement, Kruskal-Wallis test

References

1. Front-line 'Special Forces' Share Candid Stories in University of Utah Health Podcast Series. American Hospital Association. (2020, August 27). https://www.aha.org/other-resources/2020-08-27-front-line-special-forces-share-candid-stories-university-utah-health. 

2. Gandhi, M., & Rutherford, G. W. (2020, October 29). Facial Masking for Covid-19 - Potential for "Variolation" as We Await a Vaccine: NEJM. New England Journal of Medicine. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmp2026913

3. Bai, N. (2020, September 2). Still Confused About Masks? Here's the Science Behind How Face Masks Prevent Coronavirus. Still Confused About Masks? Here's the Science Behind How Face Masks Prevent Coronavirus | UC San Francisco. https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/06/417906/still-confused-about-masks-heres-science-behind-how-face-masks-prevent.

4. Lyu, W., & Wehby, G. L. (2020, June 16). Community Use Of Face Masks And COVID-19: Evidence From A Natural Experiment Of State Mandates In The US. Health Affairs. https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00818. 

5. Leffler, C. T., Ing, E., Lykins, J. D., Hogan, M. C., McKeown, C. A., & Grzybowski, A. (2020, June 15). Association of country-wide coronavirus mortality with demographics, testing, lockdowns, and public wearing of masks.ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342198360_Association_of_country-wide_coronavirus_mortality_with_demographics_testing_lockdowns_and_public_wearing_of_masks_Update_June_15_2020. 

6. Brooks, J. T., & Butler, J. C. (2021, February 10). Effectiveness of Mask Wearing to Control Community Spread of SARS-CoV-2. JAMA. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2776536. 

7. Vaida, B. (2020, September 4). Pandemic Preparedness. CQ Researcher by CQ Press. http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2020090400. 

8. Arora, V. M., Jain, S., Ranney, M. L., & Burstin, H. (2020, August 5). The Case For A National Universal Masking Mandate. Health Affairs. https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200804.515241/full/. 

9. DeSimone, D. C. (2021, March 23). COVID-19 variants: What's the concern? Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/expert-answers/covid-variant/faq-20505779. 

10. Howard, J., Huang, A., Li, Z., Tufekci, Z., Zdimal, V., Westhuizen, H.-M. van der, Delft, A. von, Price, A., Fridman, L., Tang, L.-H., Tang, V., Watson, G. L., Bax, C. E., Shaikh, R., Questier, F., Hernandez, D., Chu, L. F., Ramirez, C. M., & Rimoin, A. W. (2021, January 26). An evidence review of face masks against COVID-19. PNAS. https://www.pnas.org/content/118/4/e2014564118. 

11. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, June 15). SARS-CoV-2 Variant Classifications and Definitions. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/variant-info.html.