ArticleJournal of economic behavior & organization2021
Face mask use and physical distancing before and after mandatory masking: No evidence on risk compensation in public waiting lines.
Article in Journal of economic behavior & organization, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effect of face-covering use on adherence to other COVID-19 protective behaviours: A systematic review.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Facial mask personalization encourages facial mask wearing in times of COVID-19.Scientific reports · 2022Trial
- Perception of interpersonal distance and social distancing before and during COVID-19 pandemic.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The COVID-19 pandemic and changes in social behavior: Protective face masks reduce deliberate social distancing preferences while leaving automatic avoidance behavior unaffected.Cognitive research: principles and implications · 2024Article
- Outdoor social distancing behaviors changed during a pandemic: A longitudinal analysis using street view imagery.PloS one · 2024Article
- People interact closer when a face mask is worn but risk compensation is at best partial.European journal of public health · 2023Article
- Refraining from interaction can decrease fear of physical closeness during COVID-19.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Is self-reported depression, HIV status, COVID-19 health risk profile and SARS-CoV-2 exposure associated with difficulty in adhering to COVID-19 prevention measures among residents in West Africa?BMC public health · 2022Article
- A multi-layered strategy for COVID-19 infection prophylaxis in schools: A review of the evidence for masks, distancing, and ventilation.Indoor air · 2022Review
- During the COVID-19 pandemic participants prefer settings with a face mask, no interaction and at a closer distance.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Face masks reduce interpersonal distance in virtual reality.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- No evidence that mask-wearing in public places elicits risk compensation behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Face mask mandates and risk compensation: an analysis of mobility data during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh.BMJ global health · 2022Article
- Implications of surgical mask use in physical education lessons.Physiology & behavior · 2021Article
- Promoting physical distancing during COVID-19: a systematic approach to compare behavioral interventions.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- COVID-19 false dichotomies and a comprehensive review of the evidence regarding public health, COVID-19 symptomatology, SARS-CoV-2 transmission, mask wearing, and reinfection.BMC infectious diseases · 2021Review
- Face masks, public policies and slowing the spread of COVID-19: Evidence from Canada.Journal of health economics · 2021Article
- Masks and Face Coverings for the Lay Public : A Narrative Update.Annals of internal medicine · 2021Review
- An evidence review of face masks against COVID-19.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Review
- Estimating density limits for walking pedestrians keeping a safe interpersonal distancing.Scientific reports · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the introduction of mandatory face mask usage triggered a heated debate. A major point of controversy is whether community use of masks creates a false sense of security that would diminish physical distancing, counteracting any potential direct benefit from masking. We conducted a randomized field experiment in Berlin, Germany, to investigate how masks affect distancing and whether the mask effect interacts with the introduction of an indoor mask mandate. Joining waiting lines in front of stores, we measured distances kept from the experimenter in two treatment conditions - the experimenter wore a mask in one and no face covering in the other - in two time spans - before and after mask use becoming mandatory in stores. We find no evidence that mandatory masking has a negative effect on distance kept toward a masked person. To the contrary, masks significantly increase distancing and the effect does not differ between the two periods. However, we show that after the mandate distances are shorter in locations where more non-essential stores, which were closed before the mandate, had reopened. We argue that the relaxations in general restrictions that coincided with the mask mandate led individuals to reduce other precautions, like keeping a safe distance.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.