Is it safe to wear face mask during vigorous exercise?

S everal studies have provided evidence wearing masks can help prevent the spread of COVID-19. But should you still be wearing mask while exercising? The World Health Organisation (WHO) do not recommend using masks when exercising, because it may reduce the ability to breathe comfortably. Sweat can make the mask become wet more quickly which can promote the growth of microorganisms, it said. Instead, the UN health agency suggests maintaining physical distance of at least one meter from others during exercise. But if you prefer wearing it, there won’t be any serious health risk – as per a new study published in the European Respiratory Journal. Wearing a face mask during vigorous exercise appears to be safe for healthy people, the authors said, suggesting that masks could be worn safely to reduce COVID-19 transmission between people visiting an indoor gym. The study was conducted by a team of Italian researchers including Dr Elisabetta Salvioni from Centro Cardiologico Monzino, IRCCS, (Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico), Milan, Italy, and Dr Massimo Mapelli and Professor Piergiuseppe Agostoni from Centro Cardiologico Monzino and the University of Milan.
Breathing harder during exercise could facilitate COVID-19 transmission
To reach the conclusion, researcher team looked at the performance of a group of healthy volunteers with an average age of 40 while they were using an exercise bike with and without a mask. The volunteers were tested once wearing a surgical mask and once wearing a ‘filtering face piece 2’ or FFP2 mask. The volunteers’ breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and the levels of oxygen in their blood were measured. The test results showed that wearing a face mask had a small effect on the volunteers, it didn’t indicate any risk to health. For example, wearing a face mask led to an average reduction of around 10 per cent in their ability to perform aerobic exercise. According to the researchers, this may be probably because masks make it slightly harder for the volunteers to breathe in and out. Overall, wearing a face mask during vigorous exercise appears to be safe for healthy people, they said.
According to Dr Salvioni, the main route of transmission for coronavirus is through droplets in the breath and breathing harder during exercise could likely facilitate transmission, especially indoors.