scholarly journals Risk compensation and face mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Youpei Yan ◽  
Jude Bayham ◽  
Aaron Richter ◽  
Eli P. Fenichel

AbstractFace masks are an important component in controlling COVID-19, and policy orders to wear masks are common. However, behavioral responses are seldom additive, and exchanging one protective behavior for another could undermine the COVID-19 policy response. We use SafeGraph smart device location data and variation in the date that US states and counties issued face mask mandates as a set of natural experiments to investigate risk compensation behavior. We compare time at home and the number of visits to public locations before and after face mask orders conditional on multiple statistical controls. We find that face mask orders lead to risk compensation behavior. Americans subject to the mask orders spend 11–24 fewer minutes at home on average and increase visits to some commercial locations—most notably restaurants, which are a high-risk location. It is unclear if this would lead to a net increase or decrease in transmission. However, it is clear that mask orders would be an important part of an economic recovery if people otherwise overestimate the risk of visiting public places.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youpei Yan ◽  
Jude Bayham ◽  
Eli P. Fenichel ◽  
Aaron Richter

AbstractFace masks have become an emblem of the public response to COVID-19, with many governments mandating their use in public spaces. The logic is that face masks are low cost and might help prevent some transmission. However, from the start, the assumption that face masks are “low cost” was questioned. Early on, there were warnings of the opportunity cost of public use of medical masks given shortages of personal protective equipment for healthcare providers. This led to recommendations for cloth masks and other face coverings, with little evidence of their ability to prevent transmission. However, there may also be a high cost to these recommendations if people rely on face masks in place of other more effective ways to break transmission, such as staying home. We use SafeGraph smart device location data to show that the representative American in states that have face mask mandates spent 20-30 minutes less time at home, and increase visits to a number of commercial locations, following the mandate. Since the reproductive rate of SAR-COV2, the pathogen that causes COVID-19 is hovering right around one, such substitution behavior could be the difference between controlling the epidemic and a resurgence of cases.HighlightsWe use smart device location data to show the behavioral response to face mask mandates during the 2020 COVID-19 epidemic.We find face mask mandates lead people to spend 20-30 minutes less time at home per day.We find face mask mandates increase trip taking to a variety of locations, chief among them are restaurants.This substitution behavior is concerning given the limited information on the protective value of casual face coverings.


2022 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. e006803
Author(s):  
Zia Wadud ◽  
Sheikh Mokhlesur Rahman ◽  
Annesha Enam

IntroductionConcerns have been raised about the potential for risk compensation in the context of mask mandates for mitigating the spread of COVID-19. However, the debate about the presence or absence of risk compensation for universal mandatory mask-wearing rules—especially in the context of COVID-19—is not settled yet.MethodsMobility is used as a proxy for risky behaviour before and after the mask mandates. Two sets of regressions are estimated to decipher (any) risk-compensating effect of mask mandate in Bangladesh. These include: (1) intervention regression analysis of daily activities at six types of locations, using pre-mask-mandate and post-mandate data; and (2) multiple regression analysis of daily new COVID-19 cases on daily mobility (lagged) to establish mobility as a valid proxy.Results(1) Statistically, mobility increased at all five non-residential locations, while home stays decreased after the mask mandate was issued; (2) daily mobility had a statistically significant association on daily new cases (with around 10 days of lag). Both significances were calculated at 95% confidence level.ConclusionCommunity mobility had increased (and stay at home decreased) after the mandatory mask-wearing rule, and given mobility is associated with increases in new COVID-19 cases, there is evidence of risk compensation effect of the mask mandate—at least partially—in Bangladesh.


2021 ◽  
Vol 192 ◽  
pp. 765-781
Author(s):  
Gyula Seres ◽  
Anna Balleyer ◽  
Nicola Cerutti ◽  
Jana Friedrichsen ◽  
Müge Süer

Author(s):  
Akshay Rajeshkumar ◽  
Senthilkumar Mathi

The article exposes a smart device designed for mitigating the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) risk using the internet of things. A portable smart alerting device is designed for ensuring safety in public places which can alert people when the guidelines given by the government were not followed and alert health authorities when any abnormalities found. By doing so, the spread of this fatal disease can be stopped. The modules of the proposed system include the face mask detection module, social distance alerting module, crowd detection and analysis module, health screening module and health assessment module. The proposed system can be placed in any public entrances to monitor people without human intervention. Firstly, the human face images are captured for face mask check, then the crowd analysis of the particular entrance where the person is entering is performed, thereafter health screening of the person is done and the values were imported to the health assessment module to check for any abnormalities. Finally, after all the conditions were met the door is opened automatically. The smart device can be installed and effectively used in many scenarios such as malls, stores, crowded places and campuses to avoid the risk of spread of the coronavirus.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernanda Maria Vieira Pereira-Ávila ◽  
Adijalme Martins Junior ◽  
Laelson Rochelle Milanês Sousa ◽  
Marciana Fernandes Moll ◽  
Marli Teresinha Gimeniz Galvão ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Objective: to assess the use of masks among Brazilian nursing workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: cross-sectional study addressing nursing workers between March and May 2020. Data were collected online using a form addressing demographic variables and the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Face Mask Use Scale (FMUS-PB). Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, central tendency and dispersion measures, Student’s t-test, and analysis of variance. Results: a total of 3,294 workers participated; most were nurses (85.9%), women (90.2%), lived in the southeast (36.9%), and had had contact with the COVID-19 (77.8%). The participants reported using masks in public places and at work (63.1% and 78.8%, respectively). However, only 25.8% wore masks at home. Individuals aged between 35 and 45 (p=0.002) living in the south (p<0.001) reported more frequent use of masks. Nursing technicians (p<0.001), aged ≥ 45 (p<0.001), living in the south (p<0.001), scored higher in the use of masks for self-protection and to protect others (p=0.002). Prior contact with COVID-19 resulted in the more frequent use of masks for self-protection and to protect others (p<0.001). Conclusion: the use of masks by nursing workers in public places and health settings was more frequent than at home. Additionally, masks were more frequently use for self-protection than to protect others. These results show a need to promote cultural changes toward masks for personal protection and within the family and social contexts.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gyula Seres ◽  
Anna Helen Balleyer ◽  
Nicola Cerutti ◽  
Jana Friedrichsen ◽  
Müge Süer

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-113
Author(s):  
Farrah Neumann ◽  
Matthew Kanwit

AbstractSince many linguistic structures are variable (i. e. conveyed by multiple forms), building a second-language grammar critically involves developing sociolinguistic competence (Canale and Swain. 1980. Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics 1(1). 1–47), including knowledge of contexts in which to use one form over another (Bayley and Langman. 2004. Variation in the group and the individual: Evidence from second language acquisition. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 42(4). 303–318). Consequently, researchers interested in such competence have increasingly analyzed the study-abroad context to gauge learners’ ability to approximate local norms following a stay abroad, due to the quality and quantity of input to which learners may gain access (Lafford. 2006. The effects of study abroad vs. classroom contexts on Spanish SLA: Old assumptions, new insights and future research directions. In Carol Klee & Timothy Face (eds.), Selected proceedings of the 7th conference on the acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as first and second languages, 1–25. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project). Nevertheless, the present study is the first to examine native or learner variation between imperative (e. g. ven ‘come’) and optative Spanish commands (e. g. que vengas ‘come’). We first performed a corpus analysis to determine the linguistic factors to manipulate in a contextualized task, which elicited commands from learners before and after four weeks abroad in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. Their overall rates of selection and predictive factors were compared to local native speakers (NSs) and a control group of at-home learners.Results revealed that the abroad learners more closely approached NS rates of selection following the stay abroad. Nonetheless, for both learner groups conditioning by independent variables only partially approximated the NS system, which was more complex than previously suggested.


Author(s):  
Theresia Devi Indriasari ◽  
Kusworo Anindito ◽  
Eddy Julianto ◽  
Bertha Laroha Paraya Pangaribuan

<span>Indonesia is a country located on top of some tectonic plates that bring potential natural disasters. Disaster management system is considered essential in controlling the situation in the site both before and after the disaster takes place. In disaster situation, the government and society are involved in a volunteer team in order to help minimize victims and support survivors. However, the volunteering activities are often hindered since there are problems in the disaster site. One of the problems is late responses due to poor coordination among volunteers that drives the delay in disaster relief. Therefore, it is necessary to have an application that maps the positions of volunteers in a disaster site, so that the disaster management coordinator can disseminate volunteers to disaster areas based on needs. The purpose of the study is to propose an application called ‘MyMapVolunteers’ that effectively and efficiently detects the position of the volunteers in order to improve disaster management service. In this case, real time and location based service technology will able to detect the position of each volunteer. ‘MyMapVolunteers’ is composed of two platforms, which are mobile and web applications. Mobile platform is an application that uses GPS function provided by the smartphone to find the volunteers’ location coordinates and then send the data of the location automatically and manually. The web platform is used to receive volunteers’ location data and to present them in google map, therefore disaster management coordinator can monitor the positions of and search for volunteers faster.</span>


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