Impact of community masking on COVID-19: A cluster-randomized trial in Bangladesh

Persuading people to mask Even in places where it is obligatory, people tend to optimistically overstate their compliance for mask wearing. How then can we persuade more of the population at large to act for the greater good? Abaluck et al . undertook a large, cluster-randomized trial in Bangladesh involving hundreds of thousands of people (although mostly men) over a 2-month period. Colored masks of various construction were handed out free of charge, accompanied by a range of mask-wearing promotional activities inspired by marketing research. Using a grassroots network of volunteers to help conduct the study and gather data, the authors discovered that mask wearing averaged 13.3% in villages where no…

• YU
  Yale University
• TI
  Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
• MO
  Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
• IC
  International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Award: K01AI141616
• CF
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• MR
  Medical Research Council
• NI
  National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

  Award: K01AI141616