COVID-19 Stats: Percentage of Middle and High School Students Aged 13–21 Years Attending In-Person Classes Who Reported Observing Fellow Students Wearing a Mask All the Time,* by School Setting and Activity — United States, October 2020
Weekly / February 12, 2021 / 70(6);223
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* Based on responses by students participating in a Falcon-CDC Foundation cross-sectional web panel survey administered using Qaltrics. Students were asked the following question: “Thinking about students you see at school, how often do these students wear masks in the following locations?” Responses ranged from “all the time” to “never.”
Mask wearing is a critical mitigation strategy in preventing the introduction and spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), within school settings. In October 2020, a sample of 3,953 middle and high school students aged 13–21 years who were attending in-person classes were asked about mask use by fellow students in several settings. Approximately 65% of students reported that fellow students wore a mask “all the time” in the classroom and in hallways or stairwells. However, reported use of masks all the time was lower in other indoor locations, including school buses (42%), restrooms (40%), and the cafeteria (when not eating) (36%). Reported observed mask use all the time was lowest during sports or extracurricular activities (28%) and outside on school property (25%).
Source: Falcon Goal 1 Student Web Panel Survey, October 1–24, 2020.
Reported by: Wences Arvelo, MD, dwi4@cdc.gov; Melissa Fahrenbruch, MED; Marisa Hast, PhD; Richard Puddy, PhD.
Suggested citation for this article: COVID-19 Stats: Percentage of Middle and High School Students Aged 13–21 Years Attending In-Person Classes Who Reported Observing Fellow Students Wearing a Mask All the Time, by School Setting and Activity — United States, October 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70:223. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7006a5external icon.
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