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Public interest in different types of masks and its relationship with pandemic and policy measures during the COVID-19 pandemic: a study using Google Trends data

Authors :
Andy Wai Kan Yeung
Emil D. Parvanov
Jarosław Olav Horbańczuk
Maria Kletecka-Pulker
Oliver Kimberger
Harald Willschke
Atanas G. Atanasov
Source :
Frontiers in Public Health, Vol 11 (2023)
Publication Year :
2023
Publisher :
Frontiers Media S.A., 2023.

Abstract

Google Trends data have been used to investigate various themes on online information seeking. It was unclear if the population from different parts of the world shared the same amount of attention to different mask types during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to reveal which types of masks were frequently searched by the public in different countries, and evaluated if public attention to masks could be related to mandatory policy, stringency of the policy, and transmission rate of COVID-19. By referring to an open dataset hosted at the online database Our World in Data, the 10 countries with the highest total number of COVID-19 cases as of 9th of February 2022 were identified. For each of these countries, the weekly new cases per million population, reproduction rate (of COVID-19), stringency index, and face covering policy score were computed from the raw daily data. Google Trends were queried to extract the relative search volume (RSV) for different types of masks from each of these countries. Results found that Google searches for N95 masks were predominant in India, whereas surgical masks were predominant in Russia, FFP2 masks were predominant in Spain, and cloth masks were predominant in both France and United Kingdom. The United States, Brazil, Germany, and Turkey had two predominant types of mask. The online searching behavior for masks markedly varied across countries. For most of the surveyed countries, the online searching for masks peaked during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic before the government implemented mandatory mask wearing. The search for masks positively correlated with the government response stringency index but not with the COVID-19 reproduction rate or the new cases per million.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
22962565
Volume :
11
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Frontiers in Public Health
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.f43c105740b2421f91d69b4a95b24e4e
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1010674