Vast majority of students were up for the mask
Study finds those on CU ǸԹ and CSU campuses showed high levels of mask use and positive attitudes about masks during pandemic
The vast majority ofstudents at Colorado’s top universitiesand 52 other schools nationwide wore face masks properlyin 2021,indicatingthat students understood masks’effectiveness, that students knew masking helped them take more classes in person, and thatstudents care about the health of others, researchers have found.
fromthe University of ColoradoǸԹ, Colorado State University(CSU)andthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) foundthatmore than 90% of people onCU ǸԹ and CSUcampuses wore masks correctly amid the pandemic during spring 2021.Thestudy,titled,","waspublishedthis monthbyBMC Public Health, a peer-reviewed journalfocused onpublic health.
Specifically,researchers foundthat91.7%, 93.4%, and 90.8% of peopleobserved at indoor locations on campuseswore maskscorrectly atCUǸԹ, CSU and across 52 other schoolsnationally, respectively.Researchers also found that92.9% of respondents at CUǸԹand 89.8% at CSU believedthat wearing masks can protect the health of others.
Top of page: Music students practiced safe COVID-safe protocols in Don McKinnney’s wind symphony class by wearing masks with slits cut through at the CU ǸԹ College of Music. The implemented protocols for the performance students were being refined and studied by Shelly Miller, a CU ǸԹ mechanical engineering professor who specializes in indoor air quality and aerosol and particulate transmission, and her team of researchers. Photo by Glenn Asakawa/University of Colorado.Above:(ڳ)Tanya Alderete is an assistant professor focused on the relationships between obesity, metabolic disease, enivironmental exposures, and the gut microbiome.(Center), assistant professor, is an expert in public health research and practice. (Right)Kevin Clark, an M.S. graduate student,studies health, healthcare, sleep, tech, wearablesand sensors.
Both Colorado universities saw their largest surges in COVID-19 cases in the fall of 2020, with markedly lower-case counts during the mask observation windowof eight weeksin the spring of 2021.
“Thestudy supports the idea that masks are an effective, low-cost measure to reduce disease transmission and establishes masking as a viable way to reduce respiratory disease transmission on college campuses,” saysTanyaAlderete, assistant professor in the Department of Integrative Physiology at CUǸԹand a principal investigatorof the project.
“We also learned thatstudents strongly prefer in-person education to remote, and masking behaviors were supportive of this preference.”
MollyGutilla, a faculty member at the Colorado School of Public Health at CSU and aprincipal investigator, agrees withAldereteand adds,“The majority of students care about the health of their community,andtheywere willing to practice and promote actions to protect campus health.”
Gutillaadds, “Operating a university during the pandemic emphasized somethingwe’ve alwaysknown,yetwas brought to the forefront.That is, that our campus communitiesmust be safe and healthy to meet our mission of teaching, learning and conducting research. Using data to make decisions was essential to keeping campusesopen and functioning as best as possible during the pandemic.”
Alderete, who holds an adjunct faculty position at the Colorado School of Public Health, says when she learnedGutillawas a principal investigatorat CSU, they decided to partner in thestudy. “As a result, we were able to identify complementary data sources that were available on both campuses, including student surveys and COVID testing data,”Alderetesays.
The study was part of the CDC’s effort to measure mask use on U.S. campuses,calledthe mask adherence and surveillance at colleges and universities project (MASCUP!). From Feb.15 through April 11, 2021,CU ǸԹmade 2,808 observations,CSUhad 3,225 observations, andat the52 other institutes of higher educationthere were100,353 observations spanning 21 states and the District of Columbia.
We were able to see that our findings were consistent across two campuses—with generally similar rates of mask use and student belief in masking to reduce COVID transmission.”
Kevin Clark, a graduate research assistant in the Department of Integrative Physiology and lead author of the study, saysthe collaboration between CU ǸԹ and CSU“strengthened the generalizability”ofthefindings on both campuses.
“Instead of presenting either of our campuses as an individual location where we observed mask use and reported student opinions, we were able to see that our findings were consistent across two campuses—with generally similar rates of mask use and student belief in masking to reduce COVID transmission,” Clark says.
He also praised the leadership of CU ǸԹ’s COVID Scientific Committee foritshelp in conducting surveys to gather student opinions and in incorporating testing data into the project.
“Igained a tremendous appreciation for the number of different people and resources at CU ǸԹ and CSU that were dedicated to monitoring COVID and creating policies and practices for keeping campuses safe,” Clark says.
“I was very impressed by the scale and accuracy of the saliva-based surveillance testing program that CUǸԹhad developed and deployed, running hundreds of thousands of surveillance tests. This technology was promptly shared with CSU to use on their campus. We also were surprised to learn how similar masking behaviors and opinions were between CU and CSU.”