Specifically, CDC recommendations include using a tissue to cover the mouth and nose when either coughing or sneezing. If no tissue is available, The CDC suggests a person cough or sneeze into his or her upper arm or elbow, not the hands.
Researchers observed 383 college students in 22 different classrooms of a midsize Southeastern university over 23 days. Highlighted below are five findings from the study.
1. Only 23.2 percent of the students displayed CDC-recommended cough etiquette by using their arm sleeve or elbow (22.7 percent) or tissue cover (0.5 percent) when coughing.
2. Roughly 77 percent used improper technique, like coughing or sneezing into their hands (53.3 percent) or using no cover at all (23.5 percent).
3. Students were more likely to use their arm sleeve or elbow when sneezing (42.1 percent) than when coughing (17.9 percent).
4. Women (58.7 percent) coughed or sneezed into their hands more frequently than men (41.9 percent).
5. Men (36.8 percent) were twice as likely as women (17.4 percent) to cough or sneeze into the air.
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