Mask, social distancing compliance falling; markets top location of concern: Survey

As the number of COVID-19 cases in the country is on the decline and India heads into the festive season (October-November), mask and social distancing compliance across the country is falling and has hit a new low, a survey has found.

In the survey conducted by community social media platform LocalCircles in September, only 13 per cent citizens said that mask compliance is effective in their area or district, while only 6 per cent citizens felt that there is good social distancing compliance in their area or city.

The survey received over 65,000 responses from citizens residing in 366 districts of India. While 64 per cent respondents were men, 36 per cent were women. About 46 per cent of respondents were from tier 1, 29 per cent from tier 2 and 25 per cent from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.

To a question on mask compliance in their area, city or district, 7 per cent citizens said there is 'No compliance at all', 32 per cent said 0-30 per cent of people are compliant, another 32 per cent said 30-60 per cent, 16 per cent said 60-90 per cent, and 13 per cent said more than 90 per cent people are compliant to masking protocol.

On social distancing compliance, 25 per cent participants said there is no compliance at all, while 63 per cent said there is limited compliance. Only 6 per cent said there is good compliance, while another 6 per cent said they have not been out of their home in the last 30 days.

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About 61 per cent citizens in the survey said that mask compliance is effective at vaccination centers, while only 30 per cent said mask compliance is effective during travel at airports, stations, bus stands, among others. The survey also found that 69 per cent of citizens visited an external indoor space in the last 30 days.

"An alternative finding of the survey amongst citizens who have visited an external indoor location suggests that the top indoor locations where they have observed low social distancing compliance in the last 30 days were vaccination centers, trains, buses, malls and indoor shopping complexes," LocalCircles said in a release.

In external outdoor space, 40 per cent of citizens said the least compliance to social distancing norms was at markets, while 9 per cent said streets and roads, 2 per cent said railway and metro stations, another 2 per cent said bus stops and stands, 4 per cent said government offices, 14 per cent said vaccination centers, and 2 per cent said other locations.

"In summary, the study indicates that with only 13 per cent of citizens rating mask compliance as good and only 6 per cent citizens rating social distancing compliance as good, we are in a dangerous territory, if the Delta variant or any other new COVID variant were to start spreading," the platform said.

A previous survey by LocalCircles conducted in June 2021 had indicated that mask compliance was rated as effective by 29 per cent people then and social distancing compliance as effective by 11 per cent back then.

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