Jennifer Chaney was filming her son's basketball game when people started yelling at her to cover her nose with her mask. She refused. When the league president approached her and told her to cover her nose, she told him she had a medical condition that made it impossible to wear a mask. The president pulled the kid out of the game, kicked the family out of the gym, and removed the kid and his coach dad from the league. Chaney showed WLWT News a doctor's letter attesting to a medical condition and says she is considering hiring legal representation to reverse the league's decision.
According to most medical professionals, mask exemptions should be exceedingly rare. From CNBC:
Asthma is a common condition that causes breathing issues. According to the CDC, more than 25 million Americans have asthma, or about 1 in 13 people. Still, doctors advise that most asthmatics can safely wear masks.
"For people with very mild asthma or well-controlled asthma, it's probably not going to be an issue," said Dr. David Stukus, member of the Medical Scientific Council for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), in an article on the organization's website. British charity Asthma UK agreed, stating on its website: "Most people with asthma, even if it's severe, can manage to wear a face mask or covering for a short period of time."
But what about chronic pulmonary diseases, such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema?
In an article published on July 10, 2020 entitled "Mask Exemptions During the Covid-19 Pandemic—A New Frontier for Clinicians," authors Dr. Mical Raz and attorney Doron Dorfman argue people with these conditions may have even more reason to mask up.
"It is likely that chronic pulmonary disease in itself is a compelling reason for masking, rather than a category of exemption," writes Raz and Dorfman in the JAMA Health Forum.
