Brett Young, Consumer Insights manager, says weekly polling shows the reasons people don't wear masks can be quite varied.
When you see a mask-less man or woman do you think you can accurately predict what type of bumper sticker will be on their truck or where their political loyalties lie? Can you deduce just how they feel about protecting others during a pandemic?
You might be guessing wrong. Intermountain’s own research, conducted through weekly public opinion polling of community members, suggests that the reasons people don’t wear masks can be quite varied, and if you think you already know what their mask-less reasoning is just by looking at them, there’s a good chance you’re wrong.
Intermountain conducts regular public opinion polling to assess the shifting attitudes people have about wearing masks, according to Brett Young, Consumer Insights manager. Here are some of the things the Consumer Insights team learned based on a sampling of about 225 people surveyed in July 2020. (This poll, which only included people in Utah, had a margin of error of plus or minus six percentage points. Brett points out this poll is based on self-reported data, and not data gathered by directly observing people in public or through a rigorous scientific study.)
People forget to wear their masks. Intermountain discovered the largest group of people — some 27 percent — say they don’t always wear masks simply because they forget to bring them or put them on, Brett says. Stores that are mandating masks appear to be changing this. Usage of masks in public increased by 10 percent from July to August after many national retailers implemented policies to mandate masks within their stores.
Staunch mask opponents represent a small segment of those polled. Only a combined 16 percent of the people who didn’t wear a mask said it was for political reasons, or because they were pushing back against government mandates, or because they didn’t believe masks are effective in curbing the spread of the virus. Only 2 percent of the total respondents specifically mentioned their political beliefs as a reason for not wearing masks.
Some have a mask-less strategy. Some 26 percent of those surveyed believe they can do their part by just staying more than six feet away from everyone, so they don’t feel masks are needed, the data shows.
Masks are annoying. There were 18 percent who don’t wear masks because they said they caused them physical discomfort or have health reasons for avoiding them.
Some people think it’s time for everyone to get sick and get this over with. Three percent said they don’t wear masks because they’re just doing their part to help build herd immunity as soon as they can by keeping the virus spreading, the data shows. Those who are more at risk should just stay home, they reason.
Most people who never wear masks aren’t open to changing their minds. For the most part, people who never wear masks say their minds are made up and they aren’t likely to ever change their positions.
“It’s those people who are on the fence and sometimes or usually wear masks that we’re focusing on, hoping to move them to the always category,” Brett says.
Mask mandates appear to work. In examining the case count data in Salt Lake and Summit counties, there appears to be a strong relationship between mask mandates and decreasing numbers of COVID-19 cases. The decline in the rolling number of COVID-19 cases in those counties began 15 to 17 days after those areas implemented mandates and case counts have been consistently on the decline since that period.
Mask wearers tend to think about how their behavior will impact others. Brett says he noticed by reading the comments people offered the pollsters that, in general, those who said they do wear masks tend to have altruistic reasons for doing so, saying they do it for others and themselves. The comments from those who don’t want to ever wear masks typically don’t reflect the kind of empathy for others that the mask wearers express, he says.
When among friends and family, sometimes the masks come down. Brett says when it comes to social gatherings, such as weddings and family events, people often tend to drop their guard.
“I think a lot of this spread is happening at parties and weddings, and all the social gatherings,” he says. “I think that's an area where we have to be on guard and, perhaps, put a little bit more emphasis on getting people to wear those masks but that’s challenging because those are the people, in general, you're most comfortable with. And where you're the most comfortable you tend to let your guard down.”
He says the data backs up his observation.
The percentage of Utahns wearing a mask in public has increased over the past few months with 70 percent now self-reporting that they always wear a mask when going to public places. However, only 25 percent of Utahns self-report that they always wear a mask at social gatherings. This percentage of respondents that always wear a mask at social gatherings has remained relatively constant from June through August.
Click here if you want to know how to better respond to mask non-believers on social media.