Masks, Gloves, and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Rapid Assessment of Public Behaviors in the United States

The COVID-19 outbreak was declared a national emergency in the U.S. in March 2020, and in April 2020, the U.S. government authorities issued recommendations on the use of masks and gloves as protective measures. Despite such recommendations, popular media reports highlighted a lack of compliance. However, no systematic study has examined the use of protective strategies (e.g., wearing a mask) by the American public to prevent the spread of COVID-19 during early stages of the pandemic. The purpose of this study was to conduct a rapid national assessment of public behaviors to prevent COVID-19 spread during the early stages of the pandemic and to assess how these behaviors may have differed based on selected sociodemographic characteristics. A total of 835 adult Americans nationwide took a multi-item survey and were asked about wearing masks, gloves, and their demographic background. The majority of the study participants reported wearing a mask more often during the pandemic (76%), but the majority did not wear gloves more often during the pandemic (30%). Significant differences (p < 0.05) for wearing masks were found based on sex, age, ethnicity, marital status, living arrangements, and employment status. For gloves, significant differences were found based on sex, age, marital status, and employment. While the pandemic continues to unfold and with recent reports of a surge in cases in the U.S., public health practitioners and policymakers must emphasize COVID-19 prevention strategies for the general public and explore pragmatic options to increase compliance of protective behaviors among the general public.