Open AccessAnalysis of the Effects of COVID-19 Mask Mandates on Hospital Resource Consumption and Mortality at the County Level
Author(s) -
Steven G Schauer,
Jason F Naylor,
Michael D. April,
Brandon M Carius,
Ian Hudson
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
southern medical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.332
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1541-8243
pISSN - 0038-4348
DOI - 10.14423/smj.0000000000001294
Subject(s) - medicine , population , confounding , demography , census , covid-19 , ecological study , public health , environmental health , checklist , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , sociology , psychology , nursing , cognitive psychology
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) threatens vulnerable patient populations, resulting in immense pressures at the local, regional, national, and international levels to contain the virus. Laboratory-based studies demonstrate that masks may offer benefit in reducing the spread of droplet-based illnesses, but few data are available to assess mask effects via executive order on a population basis. We assess the effects of a county-wide mask order on per-population mortality, intensive care unit (ICU) utilization, and ventilator utilization in Bexar County, Texas.