Many people are confused about how to stay safe during the coronavirus pandemic. Even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends everyone wears a face mask when they are out in public places and anywhere social distancing is difficult, not everyone thinks a face mask is a good idea.

While there are many, many reasons that people refuse to wear face masks (watch this video for a few examples), one common reason is related to health. Some people believe that wearing a face mask will lower your oxygen levels.

Dr. Maitiu O Tuathail lives in Dublin, Ireland, and he has many patients that express the same concern to him about face masks. In a post on Twitter, he shared that his patients ask “Does wearing a face mask lower your oxygen levels?”

He is so tired of people being misinformed about face masks and asking the same question over and over again that he decided to make the truth super easy to understand. He filmed a video.

In the video, Tauthail hooked himself up to an oxygen machine so that it is very easy to see his oxygen levels. Then he proceeded to put on a face mask. The video clearly shows that the face mask does not impact his oxygen levels, but he doesn’t stop there. Just in case anyone has any questions or concerns, he proceeds to put on another face mask and another face mask until he’s wearing a total of 6 face masks stacked on top of each other.

We’re assuming he stopped at 6 masks because he simply couldn’t fit any more masks on his face.

His oxygen levels didn’t change. That is the most important thing to understand. If you’re a visual learner, this doesn’t get any clearer. Watch the video below to see for yourself.

Getting asked“Does wearing a face mask lower your oxygen levels” repeatedly by patients today!Based on what they are reading on social media*Face coverings / masks don’t reduce your oxygen levels!*I managed to get six face masks on + it had no effect on my oxygen levels! pic.twitter.com/qNKYa8pejx

— Maitiu O Tuathail (@DrZeroCraic) July 14, 2020

Alright, so now it’s clear that face masks don’t impact your oxygen levels, but are they effective? As one viewer pointed out in the comments, the medical community has been wearing face masks for our entire lives, and we never questioned it or not, so why are we questioning their effectiveness now? 

For the answer to whether or not face masks are effective, you may want to refer to the videos Bill Nye posted on TikTok. They are simple and enlightening. It’s clear that even a homemade face mask makes a huge difference.

If you don’t already have a face mask, it’s super easy to make one, or you can pick up these cute ones from Crayola or Disney.