Canadian public health officials recently issued revised guidance which included the option of wearing masks as a complement to measures already in place to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Mask usage has been positioned within elite discourse as a common good rather than an individual benefit in that it is said to protect those in the vicinity of the wearer, but not the wearer themself. We report the results of a recently conducted survey with a sample of 2,194 respondents in which we measure the effect of collective versus self-interested framing on the likelihood of Canadians to adopt mass usage. We find that Canadians are more amenable to wearing masks when doing so is framed in terms of reducing the probability that they will transmit COVID-19 to others. There is no evidence at time of writing that Canadians are more likely to wear masks to protect themselves from contracting COVID-19.
Does collective interest or self-interest motivate mask usage as a preventive measure against COVID-19?