A study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Epidemiology (ICMR-NIE) and the Greater Chennai Corporation has shown that while mask compliance has improved in the city, it was still below 50%.
The study showed that compliance in outdoor areas was 41% in slum areas and 47% in non-slum areas.
Importantly, in indoor areas, the compliance was significantly poorer at just 24% in slum areas and 33% in non-slum areas.
This study was round four of the periodic study being conducted by ICMR-NIE and the GCC at different points since the outbreak of COVID-19. Rounds one, two and three were conducted in October 2020, December 2020, and March 2021 respectively. Round 4 was conducted from July 8 to 10.
The compliance observed in the previous three rounds outdoors was respectively 28%, 29% and 21% in slum areas and 36%, 35% and 21% in non-slum areas.
Random selection
As in the previous rounds, 64 streets, 32 each in slum and non-slum areas, were randomly selected for the study.
At each survey point, 50 individuals were observed outdoors and another 20 individuals in indoor spaces like grocery shops, pharmacies, religious places or apparel stores.
In total, 3,200 people were observed outdoors and 1,280 were observed indoors in slum and non-slum areas combined. According to the study, 38% of the people observed outdoors in slum areas and 25% of those observed in non-slum areas did not wear masks at all.
The remaining 21% in slum areas and 28% in non-slum areas wore masks inappropriately, without covering their noses and mouths.
Prabhdeep Kaur, Deputy Director, ICMR-NIE, said that while mask compliance had certainly seen a significant improvement from the 21% ahead of the second wave in March 2021, the compliance had to improve further.
She said the poor compliance of just 24% in slum areas and 33% in non-slum areas in indoor spaces was a serious concern as the risk of COVID-19 transmission was far higher in these spaces.
As a majority of the population was yet to get vaccinated, it was important to improve mask compliance, she said.
