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Is Face and Mask Touching a Real Struggle During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Prospective Study Among Medical Students

There are limited data in the literature on the frequency of face- and mask-touching behavior as a potential vector for the self-inoculation and transmission of the novel coronavirus. In this prospective study, we assessed the facial touching behavior of 204 medical students. One hundred thirty-four...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Stefaniak, Aleksandra A., Krajewski, Piotr K., Białynicki-Birula, Rafał, Nowicka, Danuta, Szepietowski, Jacek C.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8358140/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34395466
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.663873
Descripción
Sumario:There are limited data in the literature on the frequency of face- and mask-touching behavior as a potential vector for the self-inoculation and transmission of the novel coronavirus. In this prospective study, we assessed the facial touching behavior of 204 medical students. One hundred thirty-four subjects (65.68%) during the 15-min observation at least once touched the area of the mask (38.23%), eyes (38.23%), or other parts of the facial zone (49.02%). The mean number of touches was 11.98 ± 16.33 per hour. The results of our study reveal that there is no significant association between mask wearing and gender; however, there might be a tendency for people with eyeglasses to touch the area near the eyes more often.