A track and field coach in Oregon voiced frustration with the state’s mask mandate after a student-athlete passed out at the finish line at the end of a race she was forced to wear a mask in.
Summit High School junior Maggie Williams was a couple meters from the finish line of her 800-meter race when she started to lose consciousness and fell across the finish line, according to the Bend Bulletin.
“I was pushing so hard, and everything went blurry, and I just fell,” Williams said about the fall, which did not prevent her from setting a new school record. “But luckily, I fell at the right spot and crossed the line with my head.”
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Williams’s coach, Dave Turnbull, took issue with the fact that she was forced to wear a mask and suggested a lack of oxygen was responsible for her fall.
“I am concerned with the mask rule,” Turnbull said. “This is what I am worried about, and I said this at the beginning of the season. You get a kid running the 800 with a mask on, it is actually dangerous. They don’t get the oxygen that they need. This rule needs to change.”
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Oregon is one of 20 states that mandates mask-wearing during sports competition, and Turnbull specifically criticized the Oregon Health Authority over the restriction.
“Unfortunately, in Oregon, we have to follow the [Oregon Health Authority],” Turnbull said. “And the OHA is not reasonable. I would like those people to come out and run an 800 with a mask on.”
