Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness / Injury
General None Reported / Taken
Environment - Non Weather Related; Company Policy; Human Factors; Procedure
On the ground in ZZZ during the quick turn my forward Flight Attendant reported that at altitude the wearing [of] the mask makes her feel terrible. I asked her to describe her symptoms and she described some symptoms similar to hypoxia (dizziness; nausea; headache; etc.). When she does not wear the mask she is fine. I have also heard anecdotally similar complaints from passengers and other FAs in the recent past. While I realize that there is a lot of controversy over wearing the mask I am not sure that we should be ignoring the studies that have shown drops in spO2 (blood oxygen saturation) from prolonged mask wearing (assuming these studies were performed close to sea level). The big concern is that our cabins are at 7-8;000 PA and we are asking our FA's to perform the duties of a required flight deck crew member while impaired by hypoxia. In my opinion they would not be fit for duty in this state. We also should be very concerned about the fact that some of these FA's could have either diagnosed or undiagnosed health conditions like asthma that could create a perfect storm of health issues causing an inflight medical emergency. So we have a perfect storm of restricted breathing; high cabin altitudes and possible underlying health conditions that may cause problems for them.Suggestion: Allow FAs to be able to remove the face mask during flight operations. Better yet remove the policy altogether.
Air carrier Captain reported being advised by a Flight Attendant that while wearing the COVID-19 type mask Flight Attendant felt hypoxia like symptoms.