A teenage athlete collapsed after breaking her high school’s 800-meter record while wearing a face mask on Thursday.
The moment: Maggie Williams, a junior at Summit High School in Bend, Oregon, blamed the state-mandated protective mask for her fall.
- “I felt like I just wasn’t being able to get a full breath,” she told local news channel KTVZ. “Multiple times of that happening, not being able to get enough air — I just felt super-dizzy, and then eventually passed out.”
- Coach Dave Turnbull echoed Williams’ sentiments, saying, “She just ran a 2:11 in Arizona without a mask on. Three seconds faster from my experience isn’t going to cause a kid to hit the track. When you’re in a mask, it certainly does.”
- The Oregon Health Authority reacted to the episode on Monday by announcing a revision to its guidelines, allowing participants in non-contact sports to remove masks during competitions — but not during training or conditioning.
Context: Oregon’s restrictions followed the CDC’s current guidelines recommending constant mask-usage during sporting competitions.
- While the CDC loosened restrictions Tuesday on outdoor masks for the fully vaccinated, it still recommends them for sporting events.
- Some Americans, especially on the right, have forcefully objected to pandemic guidelines they say are ineffective and overly restrictive.
- In mid-April, video of a Georgia mother delivering a passionate speech in protest of mask mandates for children went viral.
