In the spring of 2020, American adults did one thing more and more: wear masks. From April to June, the share who said they wore one climbed from 78 to 89 percent. Almost everything else they did to avoid the virus held steady or slipped — and at every point, the youngest adults did the least.
Six precautions, three months
The Data Foundation's COVID Impact Survey asked a national sample of adults, "Which of the following measures, if any, are you taking in response to the coronavirus?"
| Share of U.S. adults who… | April | May | June |
|---|---|---|---|
| wore a face mask | 78.1% | 82.9% | 88.7% |
| washed or sanitized hands | 93.1% | 91.3% | 89.3% |
| kept 6 feet from people outside the household | 87.4% | 86.0% | 82.2% |
| avoided public or crowded places | 80.5% | 77.0% | 75.3% |
| cancelled or postponed social or recreational activities | 69.8% | 67.8% | 63.1% |
| avoided some or all restaurants | 71.9% | 70.5% | 70.6% |
Most adults reported most or all six: across the three surveys, 45.2 percent reported all six and 35.4 percent four or five. CDC's advice at the time was to wear a mask in public and around people from other households, keep at least 6 feet (2 meters) away from them, and wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or use a sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol.
The age gap
| June 2020 | Ages 18–29 | Ages 60 and older |
|---|---|---|
| Wore a face mask | 86.1% | 92.4% |
| Washed or sanitized hands | 81.7% | 92.7% |
| Kept 6 feet away | 71.0% | 90.0% |
| Avoided public or crowded places | 67.2% | 81.8% |
| Cancelled social activities | 58.4% | 67.5% |
| Avoided restaurants | 63.4% | 77.1% |
Across the three surveys, 35.7 percent of adults aged 18–29 reported all six behaviors, against 50.2 percent of those 60 and older; 10.5 percent of the youngest reported one or none.
Older adults may have been more concerned because they face a higher risk of severe illness. Young adults may do less because of social, developmental and practical factors. And this may matter beyond them: rising confirmed cases among young adults began in June 2020 and preceded increases among people 60 and older by 4–15 days.
Masks and everything else
How many of the six precautions adults reported, by age, April–June 2020 — overall, and by whether they wore a mask. Credit: CDC.
People who wore masks reported significantly more of the other precautions. Among those who did not, every other behavior declined significantly from late April to early June, and by early June more than 45 percent of them reported one or none. Among mask wearers the declines were much smaller, and significant only for hand washing, keeping 6 feet away and cancelling social events.
The authors suggest the rise in masks and fall in other measures may reflect heavier promotion of masks along with the lifting of shelter-in-place orders and the reopening of businesses — and that a minority may have grown resistant to precautions, or unable to keep them up after returning to work, school or other settings.
Reaching young adults
Education alone will not do it; the barriers need addressing. Suggested approaches include trusted leaders and social media influencers who make precautions socially acceptable, practical tips, appeals to personal values, help with the social and emotional strain of distancing, and working with communities, employers, businesses and colleges so that precautions are practical where young adults work, study and relax.
How the survey worked, and its limits
Three waves (April 20–26, May 4–10 and May 30–June 8) produced 6,475 online or telephone interviews, weighted to represent U.S. adults. Response rates ran from 19.7 to 26.1 percent. The questions did not ask how consistently or how well people did each thing — whether the mask covered nose and mouth, or hands were washed for 20 seconds — so the figures may overstate real practice. "Avoided some or all restaurants" did not separate curbside pickup from dining in. And everything was self-reported.
Sources
Based on "COVID-19 Mitigation Behaviors by Age Group — United States, April–June 2020," by Helena J. Hutchins, Brent Wolff, Rebecca Leeb, Jean Y. Ko, Erika Odom, Joe Willey, Allison Friedman and Rebecca H. Bitsko, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (Early Release, October 27, 2020; corrected), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain. Data: the Data Foundation COVID Impact Survey, conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.cdc.gov
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