Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
Date Submitted: Jul 21, 2021
Date Accepted: Apr 27, 2022
Date Submitted to PubMed: Apr 29, 2022
Concerns about Wearing Masks to Avoid COVID-19 Infection in China: Assessment of an Internet-based Cross-sectional Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
The novel coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has the potential to spread from person to person in close contact settings. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention has released a handbook on COVID-19 in the context of disseminating health information among the public, specifically related to wearing masks correctly and adopting preventive measures to avoid the COVID-19 infection.
Objective:
The current study aimed to assess the level of mask knowledge, behavior related to mask usage, and major information channels in China.
Methods:
An Internet-based survey was conducted primarily using the DingXiang Doctor WeChat public accounts, and there were 10,304 respondents to the survey. The data about mask knowledge and behavior were recollected and analyzed.
Results:
The findings revealed that 64.49% of the participants practiced protective mask behavior, 97.93% believed that wearing masks is effective against COVID-19, 96.85% chose the mask that has two of more layers of washable, breathable fabric, 70.57% wore masks correctly, and 51.62% changed masks within four hours. Gender, age, occupation, and education level had significant effects on behavior, while marital and infection status of family members were not significant. There were ten major information channels, such as WeChat public account (89.55%), news applications (55.78%), WeChat (50.12%), television/radio (45.05%), microblogs (44.24%), friends/relatives/colleagues (27.84%), websites (25.99%), SMS (17.29%), community outreach (16.58%), and newspapers (7.53%).
Conclusions:
This study elucidated that the Chinese netizens’ protective mask behavior was far lower than mask knowledge. Improved information channels and adequate information on wearing masks are necessary to improve the public’s protective mask behavior, particularly among the males, elderly, and people with less education.
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