Behavior in the use of face masks in the context of COVID‐19

Kellerer, Jan D.; Rohringer, Matthias; Deufert, Daniela

OBJECTIVES: Investigation of potential erroneous behavior in the general public's use of face masks during the COVID‐19 pandemic. DESIGN: We conducted a naturalistic observational study in the period from April to June 2020. SAMPLE: In two western Austrian provinces, a total of 2080 persons were observed in front of 24 grocery stores. MEASUREMENT: The frequencies and types of erroneous behavior in the use of face masks were collected using a standardized observation form. RESULTS: A total of 2080 persons were observed. Almost one‐third of all observations (n = 648; 31.2%) showed erroneous behavior before positioning the face masks. Another 935 (45.0%) persons touched the face mask front during the adjustment via mouth and nose, 501 (24.1%) persons touched the face mask front in the period after the adjustment. A total of 116 (5.6%) persons showed erroneous behavior in each sequence of the observation unit. Overall, almost half of all people observed showed at least one erroneous behavior within the observation period. CONCLUSIONS: The behavior of the general public in handling face masks is highly error‐prone. Decision makers must increasingly provide accompanying information and educational measures in order to encourage the population at risk to use face masks correctly.