What are some medical conditions and disabilities that might prevent someone from wearing a face covering during the COVID-19 outbreak?

Question

In Oregon, my local news station said that many local businesses, such as airports, are requiring that everyone wear masks or face coverings to slow the spread of COVID-19. They said that those who were less than two years of age, and those with medical conditions or disabilities that prevented them from wearing such a mask would be exempt.

I first heard this announcement about two weeks ago, so I Googled simple phrases like

medical condition prevent wearing mask

and one article came up, although it was largely based on rumours and political choices.

So, if anyone can provide further clarification on whether there has actually been any study to prove or disprove these claims, that would be excellent.

Answer 1

My interpretation of this advice is that it is creating a necessary loophole for, say, someone's physician to state that a patient should not wear a mask. Maybe it would include people on supplemental oxygen or with respiratory difficulties. Could also include people with injuries on the face.

The point is that it is vague on purpose; it doesn't intend to make any specific claims or allude to a particular condition (if it did, it would state that condition). I would not expect there to be any study of this because the circumstances involved are all going to be "special cases".

An airport isn't qualified to act as everyone's personal physician, and does not feel safe giving medical/public health advice that cannot be overruled, as this could lead to a lawsuit if they were to, say, expel someone from their premises who had a legally protected reason to not wear a mask.

Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a relevant law, and includes protections and requires accommodations for those with disabilities.

I did find one public health source (and I'm sure there are others, just using this as a particular example) that has some more specific exemptions which included:

Those who cannot breathe safely;

Those who, due to a behavioral health diagnosis, are unable to do so;

Those communicating with people who rely on lip-reading;

Those who require supplemental oxygen to breathe;

Again, #1 is a broad category allowing for people to get personal opinions from their doctor that their breathing is impaired by a mask, #2 and #3 are likely important from an ADA compliance perspective. You don't really need a scientific study to show that people who communicate with lip-reading can't do so when the people speaking are wearing a mask, or that people with mental health issues with wearing a mask have issues with wearing a mask.