California Health Interview Survey data show majority of California adults less likely to wear a mask

Although the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the nation, only 30% of California adults said in July that they “always” wore a mask when they left their homes, according to a new UCLA survey. This is a significant decrease from the 54% who “always” wore a face covering in February and March.
 
And now most California adults (51%) said they “sometimes” or “never” use a mask, compared to 48% who said they “always” or “usually” do.
 
These are among the latest findings from the 2022 CHIS COVID-19 Preliminary Estimates Dashboard, published by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, and led by Dr. Ninez Ponce, the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health’s Fred W. and Pamela K. Wasserman professor and chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management.

“Our focus is to constantly shed light on the impacts the pandemic has had on people across the state,” said Todd Hughes, California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) director. “Our most recent findings show that risk reduction behaviors dramatically decreased among the state’s population, despite a very active period of the pandemic this summer.”
 
The dashboard uses responses collected in July from 2,992 adults and builds on previous months of data. Beyond risk reduction behaviors among California adults, the dashboard also includes insights about many topics, such as the pandemic’s personal and financial impacts, which outlets Californians use to gather their COVID-19 news and information, and perspectives on receiving a COVID-19 booster shot.
 
The survey also highlights how Californians’ sources of news and information about COVID-19 play a role in their response to the pandemic. Thirty-five percent of adults got their news and information from television, while 19% got news and information from social media.
 
Other highlights:
 
COVID-19 Booster Shots
•    52% of adults in California said they have already received a booster
•    31% of adults in California said they are “very likely” to receive their booster
 
Risk Reduction Behaviors
•     21% of adults in California never wore a face covering when leaving their home in the past week
•     38% of California adults 65 and older always wore a face covering when they left home in the past week, while 27% of California adults ages 18-64 always wore a face covering when leaving home
•     30% of California adults with a health risk factor (including asthma, diabetes, or high blood pressure) always wore a face covering when they left home in the past week, while 17% of California adults with a health risk factor never wore a face covering when they left home in the past week.
 
Personal Impacts of the Pandemic
•     18% of California adults continued to work entirely in person because it is required by the employer, and the same percentage worked entirely from home.