Fact Check: Prolonged use of masks leads to excess carbon dioxide, lack of oxygen in body?

As the country is struggling to curb the disastrous surge of the COVID-19 pandemic, the mask is the first and most important form of defence against the virus. However, certain posts and messages doing the round in social media and messaging platforms claimed that prolonged usage of masks leads to an excess of carbon dioxide and lack of oxygen in the body.

Press Information Bureau's PIB Fact Check has taken to Twitter to shed light on the issue and stated that the claims are false. PIB Fact Check added that people must always mask up to protect themselves against Coronavirus.

Why is mask important?

As stated by doctors and leading medical experts, a mask is the first line of defence against Coronavirus. As Coronavirus spreads through aerosols, a mask covers the nose and mouth through which the aerosols containing COVID-19 can enter the body. Although the Coronavirus can also enter the body through the eyes, maintaining a safe social distance may prevent the entry of COVID-19 from the eyes too.

Hence it remains extremely important to follow COVID appropriate behaviour such as wearing mask, maintaining safe social distance and regular hand sanitisation, and avoid touching hands on your face.

To explain the importance of wearing mask, doctors have stated that mask has always protected them from COVID-19 since the outbreak of the pandemic despite them constantly coming in contact with patients who were later found to be COVID-19 positive.

While speaking with Republic TV, Dr Supriya Chauhan, a neurosurgeon, who is a senior resident in the department of neurosurgery in Puducherry has contended that the face mask is the primary shield that acts as a protection against COVID-19.  She narrated her experience treating thousands of COVID-19 patients and how she has protected herself against the virus. 

"During the first wave, health infrastructure was not adequately equipped. I still remember, in spite of the lockdown imposed, we had trauma cases coming to the hospital. There was no reduction in trauma cases. I had to operate on many trauma cases without even waiting for their COVID-19 report. Later I found out that most of the cases I operated on were COVID-19 positive. Fortunately, for me, the mask was the only barrier and it has saved me all throughout the pandemic," she said.

She opined that the complacency of the people has led to the second wave of COVID-19 which has become more dangerous than the previous one. People even stopped wearing the mask as there were fewer cases in January-February that led to an alarming surge of Coronavirus infections, she said. She appealed to the citizens across the country to wear a tightly fitted mask, which can shield the people against the pandemic.