ArticleFrontiers in medicine2021
Is Face and Mask Touching a Real Struggle During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Prospective Study Among Medical Students.
Article in Frontiers in medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Enhancing hand hygiene compliance in healthcare environmental services staff: a systematic approach to indicator development.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2025Article
- Assessing the behavior of food handlers wearing face masks and the passage of bacteria through disposable masks.Brazilian journal of microbiology : [publication of the Brazilian Society for Microbiology] · 2025Article
- Refraining from spontaneous face touch is linked to personality traits, reduced memory performance and EEG changes.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Bacterial contamination on used face masks among nursing home healthcare personnel.Antimicrobial stewardship & healthcare epidemiology : ASHE · 2023Article
- Murine Hepatitis Virus, a Biosafety Level 2 Model for SARS-CoV-2, Can Remain Viable on Meat and Meat Packaging Materials for at Least 48 Hours.Microbiology spectrum · 2022Article
- The suppression of spontaneous face touch and resulting consequences on memory performance of high and low self-touching individuals.Scientific reports · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There are limited data in the literature on the frequency of face- and mask-touching behavior as a potential vector for the self-inoculation and transmission of the novel coronavirus. In this prospective study, we assessed the facial touching behavior of 204 medical students. One hundred thirty-four subjects (65.68%) during the 15-min observation at least once touched the area of the mask (38.23%), eyes (38.23%), or other parts of the facial zone (49.02%). The mean number of touches was 11.98 ± 16.33 per hour. The results of our study reveal that there is no significant association between mask wearing and gender; however, there might be a tendency for people with eyeglasses to touch the area near the eyes more often.
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Registered trials
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