Skip to main content

Mask mandates in Kansas help slow spread of Covid

 Comparing Counties With & Without Mask Mandates

    In the United States, there has been a significant amount of controversy over masks during the coronavirus pandemic. Although wearing a mask is required in a little over 30 states, many other states and regions still doubt the importance of masks and mask mandates. A recent study from October 25, 2020 was published by Donna Ginther PhD, on the University of Kansas MediaHub page. This study compares the COVID-19 outcomes of counties in Kansas with mask mandates to counties in Kansas without mask mandates. 


Background Information

    On July 3, Laura Kelly, Governor of Kansas, implemented a statewide requirement of masks but counties could choose to opt out of this mask mandate. The mandate required residents to wear masks in a public setting and was enforced by 20 out of the 105 Kansas counties.

Results

    Researchers from this study charted a line graph comparing the number of COVID-19 cases for counties with and without mask requirements. Surprisingly, the graph showed a spike in COVID-19 cases lasting around 14 days after the July 3 mandate for counties with mask requirements. This spike is likely due to residents who caught the coronavirus prior to the mask mandate, but tested positive after the mask requirement in their county. After the 14 day recovery period for these Covid infected residents, counties with a mask mandate saw a decrease in COVID-19 cases and have held relatively flat cases since then. On the other hand, counties without a mask mandate have had a steadily increasing number of coronavirus cases since July 3. 


    Additionally, the coronavirus cases for Johnson County, which has been implementing mask requirements since July 3, were compared to that of counties without mask mandates. Here, a similar trend was shown to the graph of counties with and without mask mandates: Johnson County had a decrease in cases beginning July 17 (14 days after the mandate) and has maintained a somewhat steady amount of cases since then. Meanwhile, no mask counties have increasing numbers of cases and a much higher case rate than Johnson County.


    Lastly, researchers compared Sedgwick County to all other counties with no mask requirements. Unlike Johnson County, Sedgwick County did not begin enforcing a mask mandate until September 9, 2020. However, the city of Wichita, which resides within Sedgwick County, has been enforcing a mask mandate since July 3, 2020. The graph shows that Sedgwick County had its first significant decrease in COVID-19 cases 23 days after the July 3 mask mandate but cases began showing a regular downward trend around late August/early September. Overall, Sedgwick County had a much lower case rate compared to counties without mask mandates, despite Sedgwick County's late decision to enforce the mask requirement.

    Using a statistical model, researchers found that counties with mask mandates had a 50% reduction of coronavirus cases compared to counties without the mask mandate.

Significance

    The findings from this study suggest masks do work and mask mandates play a significant role in reducing the number of COVID-19 cases. Counties that enforced a mask mandate saw half as many new coronavirus cases compared to counties without a mask mandate. If more states and counties issue mask mandates, it can be predicted that less people will be infected and the spread of the virus will be significantly slowed. 

    However, these results should be taken with a grain of salt as the study was published on the University of Kansas website, rather than a peer reviewed journal. As in any study or experiment, there are potential caveats found in the mask mandate study, including a small sample size limited to a few counties in the state of Kansas, as well as other confounding variables relating to the demographic of each county. Although this is the first post on the Coronavirus News Explained blog that does not come from a peer-reviewed journal, I still believe the results will be valuable to others and promote mask wearing in public spaces. Whether or not a county has a mask mandate, residents should wear masks in public to reduce infection and ultimately slow the spread of the virus.

Sources

1. Ginther, Donna. “Masks.” MediaHub, 25 Oct. 2020, mediahub.ku.edu/media/Masks/1_49bb9aid?campaign_id=154. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Efficacy of Masks

Do Wearing Masks Really Prevent Coronavirus            For weeks, U.S. health authorities discouraged healthy Americans from wearing masks, believing they would do more harm than good. However, other countries such as China and South Korea have required all citizens to wear a mask when entering a public setting to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But really how effective are these masks against the coronavirus? On April 3rd, Nature Medicine published an article describing their findings based off an experiment testing the efficacy of surgical face masks against coronavirus, influenza virus and rhinovirus.   Study Findings      Their results demonstrated that surgical masks were largely effective in reducing coronavirus transmission through respiratory droplets as well as aerosol particles. Three out of ten people who did not wear a mask were infected with the coronavirus through droplet particles. Out of eleven people w...
1 comment
Read more

Breakthrough Infections

 COVID-19 Breakthrough Infections     As of August 2021, a little over 50% of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. However, despite the increasing number of vaccinated individuals and high efficacy of the vaccines, rare breakthrough cases have occurred. With the reports of breakthrough cases, or instances when people who are fully vaccinated get infected with COVID-19, many questions have arisen. How common are breakthrough infections? What are the symptoms? How severe are the cases? These questions are addressed in a peer-reviewed study investigating breakthrough cases among healthcare workers in Israel. The study was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine on July 28, 2021.  About the Study     The study setting took place in the Sheba Medical Center, which is the largest medical center in Israel staffed with 12,586 healthcare workers. By April 28, 2021, 11,453 workers (91%) had been fully vaccinated with the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Plasma for COVID-19 treatment

FDA Authorizes Plasma for COVID-19 Treatment                     COVID-19, which has been spreading across the globe since March, has affected the lives of Americans for over six months. Many people, including the President, are eager to eliminate the virus after a dreadful 6 months of rising cases and quarantine. To their dismay, hopes of eliminating the virus by Easter and then by August, seemed to turn into an unreachable dream for Americans. With cases rising and no sure vaccine or treatment for the virus, a future without COVID-19 seemed further and further away. Yet, this Sunday on August 23, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the first treatment for COVID-19: convalescent plasma. While the plasma has only been authorized for emergency use, many people see this authorization as progress towards eliminating the virus. However, others believe that the plasma is not as effective, and that the FDA was pres...
Post a Comment
Read more