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. Estimating the effectiveness of COVID-19 control measures requires large prospective data including symptoms and personal risk factors. Here, the authors used data from smartphone-based application and found that individual face mask use was associated with a 64% reduced risk of COVID-19 symptoms.
【저자키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, viral infection, Epidemiology, Lifestyle modification, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, Efficacy, vaccination, Risk factors, social distancing, risk, Symptom, cohort study, Effectiveness, Community, COVID-19 symptoms, association, Face mask, COVID-19 transmission, unmet need, Support, Participants, reduced risk, individual, lower risk, measure, effort, Social distancing measure, mitigate, risk of COVID-19, spread of COVID-19, predicted, examined, reducing, used data, 【제목키워드】 social distancing, Face mask, risk of COVID-19,