The role of facial contact in infection control: Renewed import in the age of coronavirus

Does noncompliance with COVID-19 regulations impact the depressive symptoms of others?

Before vaccines became commonly available, compliance with nonpharmaceutical only preventive measures offered protection against COVID-19 infection. Compliance is therefore expected to have physical health implications for the individual and others. Moreover, in the context of the highly contagious coronavirus, perceived noncompliance can increase the subjective risk assessment of contracting the virus and, as a result, increase psychological distress. However, the implications of (public) noncompliance on the psychological health of others have not been sufficiently explored in the literature. Examining this is of utmost importance in light of the pandemic's elevated prevalence of depressive symptoms across countries. Using nationally representative data from South Africa, we explore the relationship between depressive symptoms and perceived noncompliance. We examine this relationship using a double machine learning approach while controlling for observable selection. Our result shows that the perception that neighbors are noncompliant is correlated with self-reported depressive symptoms. Therefore, in the context of a highly infectious virus, noncompliance has detrimental effects on the wellbeing of others.

An observational study of hand-to-face contact via videotaping of Korean older people in daily life settings

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to quantify hand-to-face contact (HFC) and identify the related factors that influence HFC in the daily life of Korean older people.

METHODS

From November 20-December 4, 2018, 30 older people were enrolled and were each videotaped for their daily activities for two hours in total. The videotaped HFC data were classified by frequency, duration, site of contact, and as self-contact with membranes (eye, nose and mouth) or non-membranes (head, forehead, chin, cheek and ear).

RESULTS

Of the 4826 self-contacts, 1311 HFC (560 membrane contacts [42.7%], 751 non-membrane contacts [57.3%]) were observed in 60 person-hours. The mean contact frequency (mean/person) of membrane and non-membrane contact was 18.7 times (nose, 9.3; mouth, 5.7; and eye, 3.6) and 24.6 (highest with the chin, 8.5), respectively. The mean contact duration (seconds/contact) for membrane and non-membrane contacts was 3.4 s (nose, 3.1; mouth, 3.7; and eye, 3.0) and 6.3 s (highest with the chin, 8.2), respectively. Contact exposure (frequency-duration/second/person) of the membrane and non-membrane was 3510.7 (nose, 1002.3; mouth, 639.3; and eye, 92.3) and 11,727.1 (highest with the chin, 2,965.6), respectively. The frequency and duration of HFC differed by age, economic activity and household income.

CONCLUSIONS

HFC was highest at the nose in Korean older people, followed by the mouth. Consequently, education about avoiding HFC of the nose and hygienic care of the nose should be a nursing priority. Awareness of the risks of HFC and the prophylactic effects of vigorous hand hygiene should be strengthened among the elderly to prevent the spread of infectious diseases via hand contact.