Protective Behavior of Chinese Population Wearing Masks during the COVID-19 Epidemic

ABSTRACT

As a physical means to block virus infection, masks can stop the spread of pathogens through droplets, and have a two-way protection. Wearing masks is of great significant for the public to prevent the risk of novel coronavirus infection and maintain basic human health. In order to find out the mask wearing behavior of Chinese residents during the COVID-19 epidemic, this study analyzed the behavioral characteristics of residents wearing masks in China's 31 provinces, and discussed the differences of the behavior of wearing masks of the groups in various potential infection risk on the basis of the survey on environmental exposure behavior patterns of Chinese population during COVID-19 epidemic. The results show that (1) During the COVID-19 epidemic, more than 99% of Chinese people wore masks outside their homes, which was significantly higher than that of non-epidemic period (16.05%);the highest proportion (100%) was the medical staff and the group who had extensive contact with people. (2) Residents mainly had three main patterns to wear masks, i.e., only surgical masks, only disposable surgical masks, and only surgical masks and disposable surgical masks, accounting for more than 60% of a total 31 mask wearing patterns. (3) During the COVID-19 epidemic, there were significant differences in the proportion of wearing masks among different occupational groups, people belonging to different groups and people in different epidemical areas. (4) During the COVID-19 epidemic, the replacement frequency of masks worn by Chinese residents was usually 4 and 24 hours, respectively. (5) The proportion of people wearing masks outside was positively correlated with the severity of the COVID-19 epidemic. Although there were differences of the epidemic distribution characteristics and control measures in different places, the proportion of residents wearing masks is high. Specifically, the proportion of people wearing masks in their living areas with no suspected cases was higher than that with suspected cases, indicating that there may be a certain interaction between the behavior of wearing masks and changes in epidemics. This study indicates that during the prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic, the mask wearing behavior of Chinese people was generally good. © 2020, Editorial Board, Research of Environmental Sciences. All right reserved.