AUTHOR=Stefaniak Aleksandra A. , Krajewski Piotr K. , Białynicki-Birula Rafał , Nowicka Danuta , Szepietowski Jacek C. 

TITLE=Is Face and Mask Touching a Real Struggle During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Prospective Study Among Medical Students

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2021.663873

DOI=10.3389/fmed.2021.663873

ISSN=2296-858X

ABSTRACT=There is limited data in the literature on the frequency of face and mask-touching behavior as a potential vector for the self-inoculation and transmission of the novel coronavirus. In this prospective study, we assessed the facial touching behaviour of 204 medical students. 134 subjects (65.68%) during the 15 minutes observation at least once touched the area of the mask (38.23%), eyes (38.23%) or other parts of the facial zone (49.02%). The mean number of touches was 11.98±16.33 per hour. The results of our study reveal that there is no significant association between mask-wearing and the gender, however, there might be a tendency for people with eyeglasses to touch the area near the eyes more often.