January 2022 Community Masking Survey Results
Published on February 08, 2022
From January 20-24, 2022, the Unified Government shared an online survey on mask mandates across several social media channels. With four survey questions, we received 3,701 responses. The following analysis excludes the 272 respondents who did not identify as living within the county and the responses that seemed to be filled in fraudulently.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to this survey. It is a new tool we are testing to see if we can quickly hear back from the community on issues. Your feedback is helpful as our elected officials weigh many aspects of our pandemic response.
Wyandotte County residents show higher support than opposition for masking in public places and for mask mandates at times of COVID surges
Over half of the respondents (59%) answered that they support or strongly support a mask mandate for public spaces during times of high COVID spread. While respondents that answered strongly disagree or disagree (39%), on average respondents showed higher support than opposition to mask mandates.
When asked if masks should be recommended but not required, sentiment shifted and residents showed more opposition to this idea than support. In this case, 54% of respondents indicated that they strongly disagree or disagree with this approach.
When asked if they wear a mask when out in public spaces, 61% of respondents expressed that they wear a mask. In summary, over half of all residents who responded to the survey reported wearing masks in public spaces and prefer for masks to be mandated at times of high COVID-19 spread.
No mask mandate
This survey is not a true sample and is meant quickly assess public sentiment on this issue. At this time, there is no mask mandate in Wyandotte County or Kansas City, KS. With recent data indicating some improvement, there are no plans to reinstate a mask mandate at this time. Nevertheless, as indicated in the survey, many people continue to wear masks and businesses can establish their own protocols for mask wearing by staff and customers.
The Unified Government Public Health Department continues to strongly recommend wearing high-filtration masks masks such as N95 and KN95 when in public spaces. Vaccines, boosters, and masks are all important mitigation strategies to reduce the spread of COVID in our community. Fortunately, the numbers are trending down, indicating that we may have reached the plateau of what has been the worst surge of the pandemic since it started.
