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Frequency of face touching with and without a mask in healthcare professionals
  • Tiffany Lucas,
  • Rachel Mustain,
  • Robert Goldsby
Tiffany Lucas
University of California San Francisco

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Rachel Mustain
University of California San Francisco
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Robert Goldsby
University of California San Francisco
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Abstract

The impact of wearing a mask on face-touching behavior is unknown. We conducted a brief survey and observational study to assess the perception and to quantify how masks affect face-touching behavior. Most felt that the mask would alter their face-touching behavior with only 18.3% feeling that masks would not affect it. During a total of 330 person-minutes of observation, overall face-touching rate was 15.1 face touches/hour (FT/hr), 6.4 FT/hr while wearing a mask and 20.1 FT/hr without a mask (p <0.01). Masks are an effective barrier and reduce face-touching behavior amongst healthcare professionals.
13 May 2020Submission Checks Completed
13 May 2020Assigned to Editor
13 May 2020Submitted to Pediatric Blood & Cancer
14 May 2020Reviewer(s) Assigned
24 May 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
01 Jun 2020Editorial Decision: Revise Major
10 Jun 2020Submission Checks Completed
10 Jun 2020Assigned to Editor
10 Jun 20201st Revision Received
11 Jun 2020Reviewer(s) Assigned
23 Jun 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
29 Jun 2020Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
01 Jul 2020Submission Checks Completed
01 Jul 2020Assigned to Editor
01 Jul 20202nd Revision Received
01 Jul 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
01 Jul 2020Editorial Decision: Accept