No, wearing a mask won’t give you carbon dioxide poisoning
As the U.S. hit a new record for the most coronavirus cases recorded in a single day Thursday — prompting many state and local officials to mandate residents wear masks in public — health experts continue to debunk online claims that wearing a face covering can give a person carbon dioxide poisoning, KATU reported.
While a mask is not the most comfortable accessory to wear while out and about, especially in the summer months, researchers have found that wearing face coverings can reduce the spread of the coronavirus by up to 50%, said Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the University of Washington’s Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, according to KIRO.
But as the issue of wearing a mask has been politicized, rumors have surfaced claiming it can make people sick, Healthline reported.
Health officials in Oregon addressed those claims this week, saying people are not at risk of inhaling a dangerous amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) while wearing a face covering,according to KATU.
“There’s been some speculation on social media that wearing a face covering can cause you to breathe in carbon dioxide, making you sick,” the Oregon Health Authority wrote in a Facebook post. “Here’s what our experts had to say about this myth.”
Attached to the post is an infographic that says, “Wearing a face covering does not put you at risk for inhaling too much carbon dioxide,” because it “does not build up in cloth or surgical masks,” according to the Health Authority.
Local doctors in Tulsa, Oklahoma are also speaking up about the rumor, KOKI reported. They agree that it is safe to wear cloth face coverings for extended periods of time, according to KOKI.
CO2 particles are too small to get caught in a cloth mask, Dr. Grewe Nelson of Utica Park Clinic told KOKI. Healthcare professionals and construction workers wear masks for most of the work day without experiencing any health issues, KOKI reported.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the general public wear cloth face coverings. Professional-grade masks should “continue to be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders,” the CDC said.
“Rebreathing tiny amounts of CO2 from wearing either properly fitted N95 respirators or more loosely fitted cloth or surgical masks is of no concern for the vast, vast majority of people,” Dr. Darrell Spurlock Jr., director of the Leadership Center for Nursing Education Research at Widener University, told Healthline.
This story was originally published June 25, 2020 at 7:03 PM with the headline "No, wearing a mask won’t give you carbon dioxide poisoning."