The new study closely examines changes in Covid-19 case and death growth rates in counties before and after the implementation of state-issued mask orders and permission to dine in restaurants from March to December last year.
The researchers found that, from March 1 to December 31, requiring people to wear a mask outside the home or in retail stores and restaurants was linked to a 0.5 percentage point reduction in Covid’s daily case growth rate -19 up to 20 days after the mask’s mandate has been implemented. Decreases of up to 1.8 percentage points were seen up to 100 days later.
The mask’s mandates were associated with a 0.7 percentage point reduction in daily Covid-19 death rates up to 20 days after implementation and decreases of up to 1.9 percentage points up to 100 days later, respectively, the researchers found.
For restaurants in restaurants, changes in daily growth rates for Covid-19 cases and deaths were not statistically significant until 40 days after restrictions were lifted, according to the study.
But allowing meals at on-site restaurants has been linked to increases of 0.9, 1.2 and 1.1 percentage points in cases of up to 60, 80 and 100 days, respectively, after restrictions have been lifted, the researchers found. Allowing on-site meals was associated with increases of 2.2 and 3 percentage points in Covid-19’s mortality growth rate from 61 to 80 and 81 to 100 days, respectively, after restrictions were lifted.
The study did not control other Covid-19 security measures in counties and states that could have influenced the data, and the analysis did not differentiate between indoor and outdoor meals.
“Masking orders and restricting any meal in restaurants can help limit the transmission of COVID-19 by the community and reduce the growth rates of cases and deaths,” wrote CDC and University of Nevada researchers in the newspaper. “These findings can inform public policies to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by the community.”