id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
cord-253827-5vodag6c	Karaivanov, A.	Face Masks, Public Policies and Slowing the Spread of COVID-19: Evidence from Canada	2020-09-25		.txt	text/plain	13128	783	64	We estimate the impact of mask mandates and other non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) on COVID-19 case growth in Canada, including regulations on businesses and gatherings, school closures, travel and self-isolation, and long-term care homes. 2 Counterfactual policy simulations using our empirical estimates suggest that mandating indoor masks nationwide in early July could have reduced weekly new cases in Canada by 25 to 40% on average by mid-August relative to the actually observed numbers, which translates into 700 to 1,100 fewer cases per week. Our results on business/gathering regulations and school closure suggest that reduced restrictions and the associated increase in business or workplace activity and gatherings or school re-opening can offset, in whole or in part, the estimated effect of mask mandates on case growth, both in our sample and subsequently. CKS (2020), whose estimation strategy we follow, exploit U.S. state-level variation in the timing of mask mandates for employees in public-facing businesses, and find that these mandates are associated with 9 to 10 percentage points reduction in the weekly growth rate of cases.	./cache/cord-253827-5vodag6c.txt	./txt/cord-253827-5vodag6c.txt