Face mask perception during the COVID-19 pandemic: an observational study of Russian online social network VKontakte

Abstract

This cross-sectional study characterizes users' attitudes towards the face mask requirements introduced by the Russian government as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We study how they relate to other users' characteristics such as age, gender, and political attitudes. Our results indicate that men and elder individuals - demographic groups that are most vulnerable to COVID-19 -- underestimate the benefits of wearing face masks. We also discovered that users in opposition to the Russian government highly approve of this anti-COVID-19 measure -- an oppositionist will approve of the face mask requirements with the probability of 0.95. For those who support the Russian government, the odds of approval are merely 0.45.