A recent study performed by the IU-Fairbanks School of Public Health revealed the mask wearing trends in the Fort Wayne area.
Researchers looked at six different variables to see if there were any differences in who is wearing masks and who aren't.
Good evening ... i'm hunter petroviak.
Thanks for joining us.a study done by the i-u fairbanks school of public health revealed the trends of mask wearing here in allen county and that information was county t tonight health department meeting.fox 55 caleb saylor has more about what mask trends are happening right now in our area.
He vast majority of peo out in public are wearing mask great news.
That how allen county health commissioner matthew sutter described the recent results of a mask study done here locally by iu-fairbanks the study reveal that eighty-eight percent of people are foll wing governor holcomb mask order while out in public and that number only drops two percent when you include children under the age of 8.
Sutter says this shows how well the health department massaging of mask wearing is working ell i think we can always do better, but i think this is an example of how we e doing it fairly well.
The study looked at several variable including gender, age, race, and location.
Doctor ashley robertson with iu-fairbanks school of public health says she trained her students to go out and observe over thirty five hundred people at various locations e considered retail catchment areas, which is essentially like a hospital catce ent areas, where you most likely to go shopping for groce going to u go get milk or what have you.
Results showed that there was a significant difference in how many people wore masks depending on the store they went to and people were more likely to wear masks during the morning than in the evening.
And the study showed that the percent of people wearing masks versus not didn significantly differ across races.
Now the problem is the area is seeing covid-positive cases rise.
Robertson explains that not because of people going to stores lot of the infectio occur in grocery stores and big box stores, they occur at local family gatherings, at playgrounds, at picnics, that kind of thing.
Results of the first phase of the study were promising, ther still more to be done e need to wear our more.
We need to wear our maske around people who are not from our household when we maintain six feet of social distancing.
?now these results are just from the first phase of the study and robertson says they are getting ready to start phase two, but she says some people are becoming more complacent, so she d expect as good of results once they complete phase
State health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs says hospitals are preparing for an increase in COVID-19 patients.
