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New pub! Me & @procAnna (first authors) along with @seth_abrutyn @k_beard12 @KrystinaMillar Lauren O'Reilly @futuredrhillary & James Watkins have a paper out in the Journal of Adolescent Health on mask wearing & social distancing among high schoolers https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X20308193?dgcid=coauthor
We analyzed 1,152 youth’s mask wearing & social distancing behaviors during 5 in-person high school graduations in one US school district in July 2020. Some key findings:
Good news! Nearly 70% of students wore their masks properly while receiving their diploma.
The high rate of student mask wearing is particularly interesting given no local or state mask mandate at the time of these graduations.
However, nearly 20% of students struggled with mask fit. Their masks kept slipping low on their nose, requiring students to repeatedly pull it back up.
With additional public health interventions, like mandates, more education around proper mask fit, and better-fitting masks, it is likely conformity would be even higher.
All schools struggled with social distancing, except when students were seated in socially distanced chairs.
Schools with adults who consistently wore their own masks or verbally encouraged students to keep their mask on had great youth adherence to COVID-19 guidelines.
We also observed that differences in schools’ conformity to COVID-19 guidelines aligned with differences in how student graduation speakers discussed the pandemic and their senior year.
At the three high schools with higher rates of mask-wearing, students talked about COVID-19 alongside broader social justice issues, including the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.
However, across ALL five schools, students noted the seriousness of the pandemic and expressed concern for their communities.
TL;DR: Most students wore masks, and expressed care and concern for the health and safety of their peers and larger community. They are important allies in conforming to public health guidelines, especially when the adults around them are on board, too.
