CR Survey: Most Americans Not Ready to Ditch Masks

“Relatively speaking, what resonated with the most people in our survey was getting the expert okay to stop wearing masks, more so than other factors we asked about, such as being personally vaccinated, or if mask-wearing mandates were lifted in their local area,” says Jane Manweiler, the senior research associate who led the survey for Consumer Reports.

Black and Hispanic people, who have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, were especially cautious. One-third of Black adults and 30 percent of Hispanic adults expect to wear masks for some time into the future, compared with 12 percent of white and 19 percent of English-speaking Asian adults.

The survey suggests that even as more people are getting vaccinated and restrictions in many areas across the country are being lifted, Americans aren’t seeing those changes as a signal that going mask-free in public is totally safe.

“Masks are a pretty low impact intervention that the general public has seen to be beneficial, they have gotten somewhat used to it and seen benefits that go beyond COVID-19,” like fewer colds and other respiratory infections, says Amesh Adalja, MD, an infectious disease physician and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore.

Once you’re vaccinated, you’re unlikely to spread the virus, according to Adalja. But until vaccine coverage is widespread, he doesn’t expect the Centers for Disease Control or other experts to advise going in public mask-free. The CDC says that for now, continuing to wear a mask even after vaccination is important, as we’re still learning how well vaccines protect against variants of the virus—early data suggests that current vaccines still work well, but more research on that topic is needed.

CR’s survey results help show that as tired of the pandemic as people are, the spread of COVID-19 is still a concern for the majority of Americans. Sixty-one percent of U.S. adults were very or somewhat concerned about the virus’ spread in their local area over the next six months—down from the 73 percent who said they were concerned about the next six months in February, but still a significant majority.

“People’s sense of caution about COVID-19, given the existence of variant strains, messages about vaccines, and other topics, is understandable,” says James H. Dickerson, PhD, CR’s chief scientific officer. “The best advice that we can offer is to remain vigilant about appropriate mask use and social distancing.”