Association of social distancing and face mask use with risk of COVID-19

Sohee Kwon, Amit D. Joshi, Chun-Han Lo, David A. Drew, Long H. Nguyen, Chuan-Guo Guo, Wenjie Ma, Raaj S. Mehta, Fatma Mohamed Shebl, Erica T. Warner, Christina M. Astley, Jordi Merino, Benjamin Murray, Jonathan Wolf, Sebastien Ourselin, Claire J. Steves, Tim D. Spector, Jaime E. Hart, Mingyang Song, Trang VoPham and Andrew T. Chan ()
Additional contact information
Sohee Kwon: Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Amit D. Joshi: Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Chun-Han Lo: Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
David A. Drew: Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Long H. Nguyen: Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Chuan-Guo Guo: Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Wenjie Ma: Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Raaj S. Mehta: Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Fatma Mohamed Shebl: Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Erica T. Warner: Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Christina M. Astley: Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Jordi Merino: Massachusetts General Hospital
Benjamin Murray: King’s College London
Jonathan Wolf: Zoe Limited
Sebastien Ourselin: King’s College London
Claire J. Steves: King’s College London
Tim D. Spector: King’s College London
Jaime E. Hart: Brigham and Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Mingyang Song: Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Trang VoPham: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Andrew T. Chan: Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Given the continued burden of COVID-19 worldwide, there is a high unmet need for data on the effect of social distancing and face mask use to mitigate the risk of COVID-19. We examined the association of community-level social distancing measures and individual face mask use with risk of predicted COVID-19 in a large prospective U.S. cohort study of 198,077 participants. Individuals living in communities with the greatest social distancing had a 31% lower risk of predicted COVID-19 compared with those living in communities with poor social distancing. Self-reported ‘always’ use of face mask was associated with a 62% reduced risk of predicted COVID-19 even among individuals living in a community with poor social distancing. These findings provide support for the efficacy of mask-wearing even in settings of poor social distancing in reducing COVID-19 transmission. Despite mass vaccination campaigns in many parts of the world, continued efforts at social distancing and face mask use remain critically important in reducing the spread of COVID-19.

Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-24115-7

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24115-7

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