▲ These days, almost every people are wearing masks.

These days, most people are wearing a mask. In South Korea, even laws about wearing masks have sprung up. People who do not wear masks should have to pay the fine. However, there are some worries about wearing masks for a long time because some news about carbon dioxide addictions has come out. Then, what is the truth?

According to SNU FactCheck, which is the Press and Information Research Institute of Information at Seoul National University, wearing a mask for a long time can cause addiction to carbon dioxide. They acclaimed that based on some YouTube videos and articles of Wiley online library. Also, they suggested the interview with Kim Woo-joo, professor of infectious diseases at Korea University Guro Hospital, and an interview with Lee se-won, a professor of respiratory medicine at Asan Medical Center in Seoul as evidence.

▲ People are concerning about the addiction of carbon dioxide caused by wearing masks

On the other hand, Factcheck K, in KBS news, acclaimed that only when wearing the N95 mask for a long time, carbon dioxide remains harmful to the human body. That means when we just wear general masks, we do not have to worry about the addiction to carbon dioxide. Also, they claimed that they do not matter when we wear N95 masks within an hour. Not only KBS Factcheck, a fact-checking team run by British news agency Reuters and Snops, a U.S. fact-checking media outlet, claimed since the cloth and surgical masks are not tight on the face, but the risk is also very low, and the use of the N95 mask for less that an hour does not result in significant risk. Also, it is unlikely that ordinary people will over breathe carbon dioxide with a mask on. Lastly, U.S. local media WUSA9 and health media Health.com also concluded in a series of expert advice that wearing a mask does not cause carbon dioxide poisoning.

Many claims are coming out, but nobody knows what is the real truth. However, we can assure that wearing an N956 mask for a long time will cause addiction to carbon dioxide. Therefore, we have to be careful about it, and we should often take some rest when we wear masks.

November 15th, 2020

by Gyeowoon Jeong