A new study showed that, in places where state and local governments required the use of a mask, fewer people ended up in the hospital with coronavirus. A second showed that college students will at least wear masks if there is an order.
Hospitalization growth rates decreased by 5.5 percentage points among 18- to 64-year-olds in locations in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Oregon, the team said in the weekly report of the CDC.
Locals began to see a significant decline in hospitalization rates for people aged 40 to 64, less than three weeks after the mandates were implemented. In addition to three weeks, falls were observed in young people aged 18 to 64 years.
“Because COVID-19 can lead to long-term illnesses and require long-term treatment, the expected savings associated with declining hospitalization rates may be much greater than the reduced hospital costs associated with COVID-19,” they wrote.
The team noted that the study did not control for other factors that could have impacted hospitalization rates.
But they said their findings support masking the community to reduce Covid-19 transmission and hospitalization, noting that the practice is likely to have a direct effect on coronavirus-related illnesses and deaths.
States and jurisdictions have individually implemented masking mandates at various points during the coronavirus pandemic. President-elect Joe Biden’s first executive order after he took office last month was to demand the use of a mask on federal properties. He later extended the mandate to most forms of public transport.
In an effort to reduce the transmission of coronavirus on campus, some universities have also told their students and teachers that they must wear masks.
University mask mandates
The correct use of the mask varies depending on the type of mask used. People who used N95 type masks, cloth masks or surgical masks, used their mask correctly more than 90% of the time. People wearing bandanas, headscarves or similar facial covers used their masks correctly about 80% of the time.
The CDC team assisted and recorded more than 17,000 people at universities and neighboring communities that required the use of internal and external masks when social distance could not be achieved.
They found that wearing a mask was “significantly more common indoors than outdoors” at these universities. More than 90% of people used some type of facial coverage indoors. This dropped to 67% outdoors.
People were a little more accommodating on campus. The use of internal mask off campus was behind the use of internal mask on campus by only four percentage points, but remained above 90% in both environments. “
The team suggests that universities conduct their own observational research on mask compliance to improve their messages and security policies.
“These data provide evidence that adherence to university mask mandates is high,” wrote the researchers. “Mask mandates have been shown to decrease the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 cases and widespread use of a mask is an essential intervention to stem the COVID-19 pandemic.”