The spiking number of COVID cases is a matter of concern for everyone in the present. Nations worldwide are doing their best to ensure safety protocols and guidelines are maintained so that the SARs-CoV-2 virus does not spread any more than it has already been.
The rise in the number of cases is also due to the increase in the number of testing. It is also mandatory to ensure that one does not spread the disease to other public people while keeping their distance and quarantine themselves.
The primary way for SARs-CoV-2 virus COVID-19 is entering through the respiratory tract of a person and causing shortness in breathing, dry cough, and other known symptoms possibly visible in people in all the other nations. With the other standard guidelines mentioned by WHO and higher authorities to follow, wearing a face mask has been scientifically proved to be helping reduce the transmission of the virus.
All the big pharma companies are trying to develop a vaccine that could collectively help all the countries and eradicate an unknown disease like COVID. Meanwhile, the experts believe that face masks help not contaminate other people with the droplets transmitted by infected people when they sneeze, cough, or even talk.
Each day, experts and scientists transmit a piece of new information, and scientists wh are more and more trying to understand the disease, which has almost left the economy and people helpless and clueless. Although the populace’s growing consensus over the benefit of mask for everyone over these past few months has remained constant, political agendas will always be surrounded wherever there is more paranoia or support.
Blaming it all on political conspiracy won’t be all. Still, with evolving evidence about COVID, the belief system isn’t changing. It is a matter of concern since Coronavirus is a disease that was never even witnessed in human history ever; science ad to develop policies based on how best they could understand the condition. When they looked deeply into the past pandemic diseases, it was found that face mask could help in saving people from contracting the disease.
But people have seemed to reduce their faith in the guidelines based on science and the new information derived from it. The discrepancies caused by the changing advices have let people believe that wearing a mask can affect oxygen or CO2 inhalation in their bodies.
Research conducted to Test this Theory.
Since the people had speculated that wearing a mask could be harmful and affect their oxygen levels majorly, experts conducted a study to analyze how much of this speculation is correct. This study involved 15 house staff physicians with no lung affected health issues, and the other 15 participants were veteran patients with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).
These veteran COPD patients were in the hospital premises already, and the doctors monitored their blood oxygen level as part of their regular monitoring process. In their monitoring process, the doctors checked for these veterans’ blood oxygen levels with a blood test conducted before and after a 6-minute walking exercise while wearing a mask.
The healthcare professions used a life sense monitor for checking the baseline air in the room, and the monitoring was in progress for the whole time while participants were wearing the mask. However, the results proved no significant clinical change in all the participants’ CO2 levels in exhalation while wearing their shows for a time range of 5-30 minutes.
The Expert’s Opinion
The study conducted on prominent speculation about-face mask proved a minimal effect on Co2 and O2 in individuals due to wearing a mask. Although the COPD patients had a relatively low blood oxygen level as expected, and no other significant change was observed in those veteran patients.
People often misunderstand the shortness of breathing while wearing a mask as a sign of lower levels of oxygen or CO2, but if we are to believe Dr. Michael Campos, who is the senior author of the study as mentioned above of the Miami Veterans Administration Medical Center and the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, he says that
Dyspnea, the feeling of shortness of breath felt with masks by some, is not synonymous [with] alterations in gas exchange. It likely occurs from restriction of air flow with the mask in particular when higher ventilation is needed on exertion.
Dr. Campos says that even though wearing a mask might be a discomforting experience for some people. Still, it is the only weapon we have right now to save ourselves and others around us from contracting the COVID virus.
Mask is not going to kill us but rather keep us safe from a deadly disease, so such speculation must not be paid any heed when there is no evidence supporting the same.
