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| Students wear face masks at school in China this week. / Xinhua/Ou Dongqu |
By Park Si-soo
Two Chinese teenagers died of sudden cardiac arrest last month after running while wearing face masks during physical education classes.
Chinese education authorities reportedly have cancelled running events for this term after tentatively concluding that wearing masks during physical education (PE) caused the deaths.
The deaths happened in Henan Province on April 24 and in Hunan Province on April 30. According to reports, both students "suddenly" collapsed and died on their schools' running tracks.
The father of one victim said after watching CCTV footage of his son running laps, "He was wearing a mask and, then he suddenly fell backwards and hit his head on the ground.
"It was sunny and their PE class was in the afternoon when it was at least 20 degrees Celsius. It couldn't have been comfortable wearing a mask while running."
While Chinese netizens criticized the practice of requiring students to wear masks during PE class, some experts questioned the father's claim, saying there were many causes of sudden death, including prolonged periods of inactivity and inadequate warming up before running.
