Ruoya Huang and Ruoxian Huang and Edgar Huang
Social Influences on Americans&039; MaskWearing Behavior during COVID19
540 - 548
2021
15
5
International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences
https://publications.waset.org/pdf/10012012
https://publications.waset.org/vol/173
World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
Based on a convenience sample of 2,092 participants from across all 50 states of the United States, a survey was conducted to explore Americans’ maskwearing behaviors during COVID19 according to their political convictions, religious beliefs, and ethnic cultures from late July to early September, 2020. The purpose of the study is to provide evidential support for government policymaking so as to drive up more effective public policies by taking into consideration the variance in these social factors. It was found that the respondents’ party affiliation or preference, religious belief, and ethnicity, in addition to their health condition, gender, level of concern of contracting COVID19, all affected their maskwearing habits both in March, the initial coronavirus outbreak stage, and in August, when maskwearing had been made mandatory by state governments. The study concludes that pandemic awareness campaigns must be run among all citizens, especially among African Americans, Muslims, and Republicans, who have the lowest rates of wearing masks, in order to protect themselves and others. It is recommended that complementary cognitive bias awareness programs should be implemented in nonBlack and nonMuslim communities to eliminate social concerns that deter them from wearing masks.
Open Science Index 173, 2021