COVID-19: The Effectiveness of Free Face Mask Distribution

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The investigators will carry out a randomised trial of free face mask distribution in Stovner District, Oslo, Norway. Ten grocery stores will serve as study sites. Over three weeks the stores will be randomised daily to having corona hosts outside their entrance, handing out face masks to customers. The investigators will compare the proportion of customers who wear face masks as they enter the store in stores with or without face mask distribution.

Official Title
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The Effectiveness of Distributing Free Face Masks to Increase Use of Face Masks During the COVID-19 Pandemic. A Randomised Experiment in Stovner District, Oslo, Norway

Conditions
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Covid19

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Distribution of free face masks


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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All grocery stores in the Stovner district are eligible as long as they have not, or only sporadically, had free distribution of face masks previously. At the customer level, we will only include those 12 years or older (age based on the outcome assessor's judgement).

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 12 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Crossover Assignment
Interventional Model Description: The team members from the Stovner district-administration will send a numbered list to Norwegian Institute of Public Health-team, with the names of the stores. The ordering of the stores will define the numbers used to represent each store in the randomisation process. Using Stata software, we will carry out 13 separate and independent randomisations, each assigning the intervention to half the included stores. An additional randomisation to the treatment or control group will be carried out for a marginal store each day in the event of an odd number of stores. Unless it proves too logistically cumbersome, we will also randomise the corona hosts, i.e. the store they are allocated to will be decided through randomisation.
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Distribution of free face masks<br>Face masks will be handed out for free to all customers entering the grocery stores. | Behavioral: Distribution of free face masks<br>* Corona hosts will be placed at the entrance of the intervention stores, and hand out face masks to customers entering the store.<br>|
| No Intervention: Control<br>Business as usual. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Face mask use | Proportion of customers wearing a face mask | Through study completion, 3 weeks. | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Correct use of face masks | Proportion of customers wearing a face mask correctly (i.e. covering mouth and nose) | Through study completion, 3 weeks | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Face masks, Infection control, Behavioral intervention