This Mask Argument In D-86 Debunked

HINSDALE, IL — Like school boards across the nation, the Hinsdale High School District 86 board has heard public comments arguing against mask mandates.

At last week's board meeting, an incoming sophomore at Hinsdale Central High School submitted written comments against masks. She was apparently referring to a Journal of the American Medical Association research letter on June 30 that asserted masked children ages 6 to 17 breathed in unacceptably high levels of carbon dioxide.

Masks, she said, are "scientifically proven to be unhealthy bacteria-filled cloth and paper biohazards that recycle your carbon dioxide."

A week earlier, a number of residents made similar arguments to the Elmhurst School District 205 board.

"Children should not be forced to wear masks," Elmhurst chiropractor David Pollitz told the board. "Please trust science for the 2021-22 school year."

Three days later, the science changed. The respected medical journal's editors retracted the research letter about carbon dioxide and masks, questioning the study's methodology.

Even before the retraction, the Mayo Clinic issued a list of "debunked myths" about wearing face masks. One of them was about carbon dioxide.

"For many years, health care providers have worn masks for extended periods of time with no adverse health reactions," the clinic said. "The CDC recommends wearing cloth masks while in public, and this option is very breathable. There is no risk of hypoxia, which is lower oxygen levels, in healthy adults. Carbon dioxide will freely diffuse through your mask as you breathe."

Days after the journal letter was released, an ABC affiliate in California ran a story about it. The station's main source, Dr. David Cornfield, medical director of respiratory therapy at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford, did not sound any alarms.

"There may be some increase in CO2, but that increase is not physiologically significant," he told the affiliate. "The physiological implications of that very subtle rise in carbon dioxide is not in my mind sufficient to be more important than the amount of safety that one gets from wearing a mask."