Many states in the Upper Midwest and Mountain West resisted more stringent control measures, like limits on gatherings and mask mandates. The opposite was true for states with mandates. "The probability of becoming a rapid riser county was 43% lower among counties that had statewide mask mandates at reopening," the researchers reported. 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. We all want to be able to be with friends and family this spring and summer, and we all dont want to have [to] go back to the more stringent mitigation measures, so gathering outside and wearing masks is the best way to allow both to happen.. Even as more and more states encourage or even mandate mask wearing, many citizens sti Fourteen of the 15 states with no mask wearing policy for the general public through September reported a high COVID-19 rate. We abstracted daily percentages of the population who say they always wear a mask in public. The county in the spotlight right now is Los Angeles County, where cases have spiked over the past few weeks with more than 2,700 new COVID infections per day, which is a 180% increase since Nov. 1. Over the course of the pandemic, the scientific evidence and our understanding of masks have grown. Nevertheless, adherence is essential for policy effectiveness. Decreases in the rate of new infections and deaths from the virus were statistically significant, the studys authors found. 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.". As indicated on the graph, surveys during the pandemic showed that fewer than 10 percent of Swedes bothered to wear masks. Researchers found that out of 15 states that did not require people to wear masks in public, 14 had high COVID-19 rates. That second observation requires a caveat, since testing rates affect the number of cases that are recorded. But there are still settings where wearing your mask is crucial. 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). The claim: CDC study found that face masks have a negligible effect on the spread of COVID-19. However, the COVID-19 rates continued to be higher in places with low mask adherence. In the United States, policies on mask wearing have varied from state to state over the course of the pandemic. And the more swiftly they can act, the shorter any lockdown-style policies need to be. 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. Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. 2023 Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Inc. All rights reserved. But the researchers found no clear relationship between mask mandates and mask use. Mast mandates may be back on the table for states where the number of COVID cases are once again causing serious alarm for health officials. For policies on physical distancing, we recorded whether a stay-at-home order was issued and, if so, when. "Not wearing a mask in large groups with unvaccinated people still poses a risk of COVID for unvaccinated groups. Variants of COVID-19 Are Spreading Across the U.S. How to Plan a COVID-Safe Summer Vacation in 2022. Data on population distributions from the COVID-19 US State Policy Database [13] came from the US Census. 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. Copyright Masks make no difference in reducing the spread of Covid, according to an extensive new review by Cochranethe gold standard for evaluating health interventions. A relationship between policies and the outbreaks severity has become more clear as the pandemic has progressed. No, PLOS is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation, #C2354500, based in San Francisco, California, US, Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249891, https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#new-hospital-admissions, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/masking-science-sars-cov2.html, https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/these-are-the-states-with-mask-mandates, https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/masking-lack-of-evidence-with-politics/, https://cepr.org/sites/default/files/CovidEconomics43.pdf, https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america?view=mask-use&tab=trend, https://doi.org/10.18148/srm/2020.v14i2.7761, https://data.cdc.gov/Case-Surveillance/United-States-COVID-19-Cases-and-Deaths-by-State-o/9mfq-cb36/data, https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/county-level-data-sets/download-data/, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/indicators.html#thresholds, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/index.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fneed-extra-precautions%2Fpeople-at-increased-risk.html. For a while, the residents were spared. 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. | Mean COVID-19 rates for states with at least 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. Writing original draft. In the first 20 days after implementingmask mandates, new cases slowed by 0.5 percentage points. By contrast, Florida has no statewide restrictions. Doug Burgum reopened the state nearly fully in May. Click through the PLOS taxonomy to find articles in your field. It also examined the link between allowing on-site restaurant dining and the number of coronavirus cases and deaths. Even if masking works, that does not necessarily mean mandates do. In the United States, policies on mask wearing have varied from state to state over the course of the pandemic. The CDC received some criticism for its junk science on masks, particularly for its false claims about the benefits of masking schoolchildren, but the press mostly promoted the agencys narrative. Research suggests that mandatory mask-wearing policies correlated with a lower number of COVID-19 infections and deaths. 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. 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. Effectiveness of Mask Wearing to Control Community Spread of SARS-CoV-2. Its been largely delegated to a subnational level, to the states, for example, and municipalities to figure it out themselves.. Eleven states never mandated masks, while the other 39 states enforced mandates. 3.1.2023 9:30 AM, Damon Root The worst outbreaks in the country now are in places where policymakers did the least to prevent transmission, according to the Oxford index. Effectiveness of Mask Wearing to Control Community Spread of SARS-CoV-2. The States and Mask Mandates. The information in this article is current as of the date listed, which means newer information may be available when you read this. And in the Germancity of Jena, first in the country to implement public mask wearing last April, masks led to a 75% decrease in new COVID-19 cases in little under three weeks, one December study found. Fourteen of the 15 states with no mask wearing policy for the general public for the entire four month period (June through September) reported a high COVID-19 rate. Mask wearing has been advocated by public health officials as a way to reduce the spread of COVID-19. 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. The wave of new restrictions in the United States follows national and regional lockdowns in Europe, where outbreaks surged past their spring peaks but cases per capita remained lower than many Upper Midwest states. Start the day smarter Notable deaths in 2023 The world's largest war . But it seems clear that anyone who takes it for granted that mask mandates have played a crucial role in controlling the spread of COVID-19 is making a series of assumptions that are not justified by the evidence. Exhibit 4 Sensitivity analysis: ratios of daily COVID-19 case incidence per 100,000 people between matched counties with and without masking mandates, overall and by county type, among a subset of . | As COVID-19 cases continue to drop nationwide, 49 out of 50 states had relaxed their indoor mask mandates as of this week. States and D.C. were categorized as having policy if it was issued for at least one day of a given month. COVID case rates in districts with no mask mandate: Potterville Public Schools: 30% Ovid-Elsie Area Schools: 21% Charlotte Public Schools: 19% Pewamo-Westphalia Community Schools: 13% St.. In Maryland , Gov. We abstracted data on whether the state issued a mandate of mask use by all individuals in public spaces, and if so, the dates of implementation and whether the mandate was enforced by fines or criminal charge/citation(s). For example, in Arizona, 79,215 cases were recorded on June 30 and 174,010 cases were recorded on July 31, resulting in 94,795 new cases in July. This pattern of magical thinking persisted throughout the pandemic, as Miller demonstrates in dozens of graphs contrasting conventional wisdom with cruel reality. Nedghie Adrien, Roles Even at small gatherings with unvaccinated people from different bubbles, like graduation parties with relatives from afar and families from the neighborhood, all attendees should wear masks," she says. But the study did not take into account other policies or voluntary safeguards that may have differed between jurisdictions with and without mask mandates. The current study . The data we now have conclusively show that widespread use of masks is a very effective way to reduce the spread of COVID-19, CDC spokeswoman Jasmine Reed wrote in an email to USA TODAY. Currently, patients, visitors and staff members at UCHealth are required to wear a mask at all times. But as Flam notes, "the benefits of universal masking have been difficult to quantify" in the real world, where cloth models predominate and masks may not be clean, well-fitted, or worn properly. The Kentucky senator presses on with his fight against the federal governments Covid response. We divided the monthly number by 2.2 to obtain the number in a two-week period (43,088). Contributed equally to this work with: 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. Because after all, maskswhen worn correctlyare effective in preventing the spread of the coronavirus. Jacob Sullum is a senior editor at Reason. "They dont know how well people complied with these mandates or what proportion of the populationwas actually wearing masks.. The claim that a CDC study found face masks to have a negligible effect on the spread of COVID-19 is FALSE. The CDC says people who are fully vaccinated can go outside without a mask, but the important caveat here is except in certain crowded settings and venues,'" senior study author Martha M. Werler, DSc, professor of epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health, tells Verywell. North Dakota, for example, made few efforts to contain the virus. Is the Subject Area "COVID 19" applicable to this article? Public health policy-making requires navigating the balance of public good and individual rights [10]. 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. 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. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249891.t003. 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. 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. 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). here. Over a third of states are ending COVID-19 mask mandates. The announcement comes one day after Joe Biden pleaded with state and local leaders to maintain or reinstate mask mandates, due to recent alarming trends in US coronavirus case numbers. Even as more and more states encourage mask wearing [7], many citizens still resist the notion [8]. 18, 2020. Latest news. The masks in Germany obviously didnt beat Covid. From the start of the pandemic through this spring, the cumulative rate of Covid mortality has been slightly higher in Sweden than in Germany (by about 15 percent), but the rate of overall excess mortality has been slightly higher in Germany (by about 8 percent). If youve been vaccinated and still feel mortally threatened by the virus, please read this. 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 Note: State containment measures are shown from two weeks prior, reflecting what experts say is a lag between new policies and results. Several other states have implemented or tightened. 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. 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]. The findings were published in the journal PLOS One in April. "We do not find evidence that mandating mask-wearing reduces transmission," the authors reported. 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 . By the virus were statistically significant, the scientific evidence and our understanding covid cases in states with mask mandates vs without masks a... 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