Dear Editor:
RE: Mask ‘discrimination’, July 16.
My response to this letter, in which the writer claims that oxygen levels drop when you wear face coverings, can be summed up in one word: bollocks!
She references the OHSA claiming it’s a proven fact that oxygen levels drop below OHSA requirements, when in fact OHSA recommends the use of face coverings and does not state anything regarding masks and oxygen levels. There was a Facebook post making that claim that has been fact checked and determined to be false.
Perhaps Ms. Owen should look at the official website of the organization and read their regulations before spreading misinformation? I would also add that the editor of the paper bears some responsibility here, too, by enabling this misinformation spreading by not even checking or adding a note about the OHSA site and its content.
Owen might also want to check out a video of a doctor hooked up to an oxygen monitor as he puts on six surgical masks; the monitoring showed no decrease in his oxygen levels. Or she could check out a recent interview CBC did with a man diagnosed with cystic fibrosis which has severely limited his lung capacity, who nevertheless wears a cloth mask when he ventures out to do his shopping because it’s the right thing to do to protect himself and his community.
If someone with severe scarring on his lungs and suffering from “oxygen depletion” every minute of every day can cope with wearing a mask, I think the rest of us will “survive” wearing a mask for a limited time without collapsing or permanent damage.
If neither of those examples convinces you that face masks are safe to wear, how about some common sense? Surgeons and nurses can wear surgical mask for hours in the operating room. If oxygen deprivation was an issue, they would be fainting and dropping to the floor during surgery.
We are not fear-filled, uninformed people; you are. We wear masks because the science is real, not fake, and facts are intended to inform, not to cause fear. We wear masks because in a democracy “the needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few, or the one” (thanks to Spock for a quote so relevant to these times).
You have the right to endanger yourself but not others, but before you do, please inform yourself with all the facts from all the sources, and let logic not fear help you decide.
Helen Firko,
Elora