Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Oklahoma City Fox affiliate, KOKH, tweeted out a message Friday night about masks that might lead viewers to believe masks are dangerous to wear.
New studies show masks can change how you breathe, and even trigger abnormal breathing.https://t.co/wKnqVFdG0H
— KOKH FOX 25 (@OKCFOX) July 4, 2020
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The tweet doesn’t reflect the tone or the message of the original story, which was written and produced by Sinclair sister-station WJLA.
The story’s focus is on possible benefits of wearing a mask and not on Covid-19 protection. Christy Tagye, the expert consulted in the story, is an occupational therapist and the chief operations officer for PN Medical, a company that focuses on respiratory therapy and sells a breath-training device marketed to athletes. The device is featured in the story.
“It’s not that masks are bad or do anything bad to us,” Tagye says in the story. “It’s that we tend to change our breathing pattern.”
We asked KOKH parent company Sinclair about the tweet and the story, but have yet to hear back. We will update this article when we do.
At the time this story was posted, Oklahoma had 15,065 confirmed cases of Covid-19—with 526 new cases confirmed on July 3, its second-highest single day total—and 398 people have died from the coronavirus.
Oklahoma City restaurant and bar workers are now required to wear face masks, but patrons do not have to cover their faces.