A new study has suggested that wearing a mask to protect against the spread of COVID-19 does not decrease oxygen saturation.

The study revealed that there was no decrease in oxygen saturation in over 200 mask-wearing individuals who attended an asthma and allergy clinic, irrespective of the type of mask and the duration for which they had been wearing the mask. Investigators obtained 223 surveys from adult and pediatric patients presenting to the University of Michigan Medicine Allergy Clinic from September 10 through October 23, 2020. Patients were asked if they had asthma, the degree of perceived control if they had asthma, the type of mask they wore, and how long they had been wearing it. Resting pulse oximetry readings were noted for all subjects. The mean SpO2 was noted to be 98% in both asthma and nonasthma groups. Additionally, the mean SpO2 was 98% for both a fabric mask and a surgical mask 98%, while it was 99% for N95 mask. The findings were presented at the Virtual Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology… (Medscape)