EXCERPTS (Harriet Hall): An individual who was both an anti-vaxxer and anti-masker claimed that “studies were done that show that surgeons who wore N95 masks for extended periods of time were shown to have decreased oxygen levels and were more prone to mistakes.” His argument was “imagine what that would do to kids who were forced to wear masks all day in school.”
Because everything I had been reading indicated that masks did not decrease oxygen levels, this sounded like important, earth-shattering news. I thought it should be easy to find the studies in question. I looked in all the usual places including PubMed, Google Scholar, and of course, good old Google. My search was fruitless. I didn’t give up. I persevered until I finally located one study that seemed to support the anti-vaxxer’s claims … sort of. But not really...
[...] According to experts, “There is no solid scientific evidence that wearing masks causes hypoxia or cognitive impairment. Doctors and healthcare workers who work in operating rooms wear them for hours a day and there has been no evidence that these people have had cognitive decline.”
A 2021 study on the effects of wearing masks on oxygen and ventilation at rest and during physical activity found that “The risk of pathologic gas exchange impairment with cloth masks and surgical masks is near-zero in the general adult population.” (MORE)