Poll: Mask use and vaccine willingness rise in the south with the COVID case rate

As cases remain at record high levels in many Southern states, more Southerners have been wearing masks. After a sharp drop in the share of Southerners who “always” wear a face mask when outside their home since March, that percentage is back on the rise. Four in ten Southerners (40%) report always wearing a mask in the last week, up seven points from what already had been a rising number, and five points higher than the national share (35%).

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More Southerners are always wearing masks than are residents of any other region (Midwest 26%, Northeast 34%, West 37%). Among people who have lost a close friend or family member to COVID-19, the share who always wear masks is eight points higher in the South (54%) than nationally (46%).

Openness to vaccines is also rising in the South, where knowing someone who died from COVID-19 has an especially pronounced effect on vaccine hesitancy. The South still lags the Northeast and the West in the share of adults saying they have been fully vaccinated (59% compared with 73% in the Northeast and 68% in the West), but the share of people in the South who say they won’t be vaccinated or aren’t sure has dropped six points in the last week (to 36% from 30%).

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