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arXiv · 2105.07397

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

Alexander G. Chkhartishvili·Dmitry A. Gubanov·Ivan V. Kozitsin
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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.

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Alexander G. Chkhartishvili, Dmitry A. Gubanov, Ivan V. Kozitsin. 2021-05-16. Face mask perception during the COVID-19 pandemic: an observational study of Russian online social network VKontakte. https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.07397

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