The enforcement of statewide mask wearing mandates to prevent COVID-19 in the US: an overview

Face masks have become the bulwark of COVID-19 prevention in the US. Between 10 April and 1 August, 2020, 33 state governors issued orders requiring businesses to require their customers and employees to wear face masks, and persons outdoors who could not social distance to do the same. We documented the policies and enforcement actions for these policies in each of the states. We used governors’ orders and journalists’ news reports as our sources. Our results show that the states used a variety of state and local (county and municipality) agencies to enforce business prevention behaviors and primarily local law enforcement agencies to enforce outside mask-wearing behaviours. In particular, law enforcement officers demonstrated a strong preference for educating non-mask wearers, and indicated a reluctance to resort to civil penalties that were enacted in the state orders. Businesses expressed a preference to have government agencies enforce non-mask wearing behaviours. But there was also a widespread reluctance on the part of local law enforcement to resort to legal remedies.