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A new poll suggests the Northeast region of the United States embraces face masks and coverings more than any other area, CNN reports.

What’s going on:

  • A new round of polling from Ipsos Knowledge and Axios found that the Northeast region of the country exceeds the rest of the country.
  • Specifically, New England and Middle Atlantic lead the way. That region includes states such as New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, which were all hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March, CNN reports.
  • Meanwhile, the lower regions include parts of the South, the Midwest and the Southwest, CNN reports.
  • The Mountain region — which includes Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona and Montana — ranked seventh on the list of nine regions with 38.5% of people saying they wear masks when they head out the door.
  • CNN said: “This polling data when matched with current rates of transmission is, on the whole, consistent with the growing scientific consensus that mask-wearing slows the spread of COVID-19. We’re dealing with small samples for a lot of states in the polling and there are plenty of potential confounding variables, so I don’t want to harp on this too much.”

How face masks help

  • Research has suggested recently that the novel coronavirus can spread through airborne transmission. Wearing a mask might be one of the few ways to stop the spread, according to a new study.
  • Researchers in Texas and California looked at COVID-19 infection rates in Italy and New York before and after face masks became mandatory. Both locations saw flattened infection rates after the face mask measures began.
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