Objective To understand the behavior and attitude of mask-wearing among primary and middle school students in Chongqing at the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic

so as to provide evidence for formulating prevention and control strategies. Methods A self-made questionnaire on cognition and behavior on the COVID-19 pandemic in primary and middle school students was employed to invite primary and middle school students in 35 districts and counties of Chongqing to answer the questionnaire through the online platform ‘Wenjuanxin’ in March 2020. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software（VERSION 25.0）. Results A total of 2 421 valid questionnaires were collected. Of the respondents

2 163（89.3%） always wore masks when going out; 1 375（56.8%） supported wearing masks at home

while 1 046（43.2%） did not support wearing masks at home. There were significant differences in mask-wearing behaviors among respondents of different ages

maternal education levels

and types of neighborhoods（P<0.05）. There were significant differences in maskwearing attitudes among respondents of different gender

parental education levels

and parental occupations（P<0.05）. The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that maternal education level of middle school and below（OR=0.661）

maternal occupation of others（OR=0.627）

and paternal education level of senior high school/secondary school（OR=0.603） were the influencing factors of mask-wearing attitudes of the respondents（all P<0.05）. Age of 7 to less than 13 years old（OR=2.012）

open neighborhoods（OR=2.899）

and closed neighborhoods（OR=3.391） were the influencing factors of mask-wearing behavior of the respondents（all P<0.05）.Conclusion At the early stage of COVID-19

primary and middle school students in Chongqing showed better mask-wearing behavior

but the attitude toward mask-wearing is still unscientific. It is necessary to strengthen the education of protection knowledge for middle school and high school students

people with low education levels and adult women.