6 out of 10 Oppose Indoor Mask Removal... Higher Anxiety Among Women and Elderly

Lotte Members Survey Results
65.5% of Respondents "Will Continue Wearing Masks"

Infographic on the mandatory indoor mask-wearing survey.
[Photo by Lotte Members]

On the 20th, Lotte Members announced that 6 out of 10 people oppose lifting the indoor mask-wearing mandate.

According to a survey conducted by Lotte Members through their own research platform Lime on the 11th and 12th, targeting 2,200 adult men and women (with a sampling error of ±2.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level), 59% of respondents opposed lifting the indoor mask-wearing mandate.

Even if the indoor mask mandate is lifted, 65.5% of respondents said they would continue to wear masks indoors. In particular, 72.3% of female respondents said they would wear masks, a higher rate than males at 58.7%. The willingness to wear masks increased with age: 69.1% in their 50s, 67.6% in their 40s, 61.9% in their 30s, and 51.0% in their 20s. This is analyzed to be due to lingering concerns about COVID-19 infection.

In this survey, 37.2% of respondents answered that they feel anxious about COVID-19 infection (very anxious + anxious), which was higher than the 18.2% who said they do not feel anxious (not anxious at all + not anxious). Anxiety about COVID-19 infection was lower among younger age groups. About 29.0% of people in their 20s still felt anxious about infection, while 40.9% of those in their 50s did.

Concern about others not wearing masks indoors (58.8%) was higher than concern about others not wearing masks outdoors (43.2%). By age group, the percentage of respondents who felt anxious about people not wearing masks indoors was 42.0% for those in their 20s, 54.9% for those in their 30s, 59.9% for those in their 40s, and 64.1% for those in their 50s.

Infographic on the indoor mask-wearing mandate survey.
[Photo by Lotte Members]

The top location where people said they would definitely continue to wear masks even after the mandate is lifted (multiple answers allowed) was public transportation (67.9%). This was followed by department stores, marts, and supermarkets (51.8%), movie theaters and performance halls (51.6%), wedding and funeral halls (46.5%), religious facilities (40.2%), academies and schools (37.7%), PC rooms, arcades, and karaoke rooms (37.3%), workplaces (32.9%), indoor sports facilities (32.7%), reading rooms and study cafes (32%), hair salons (29%), restaurants and cafes (26.7%), and pubs (24.7%).

A Lotte Members official stated, “Overall, across all categories, older age groups and women showed higher levels of infection anxiety than men, and opposition to lifting the mask mandate was also higher. Even if the indoor mask-wearing mandate is lifted, it is expected that many people will continue to wear masks for the time being, and this may gradually change depending on the location, timing, and situation.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.