Bill Nye the Science Guy Does TikTok Video on Importance of Face Masks

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted our lives in so many ways, with many grappling with the new normal created by the virus’ spread. In recent weeks, part of that status quo has involved a conversation surrounding face masks — and it looks like Bill Nye is weighing in. Nye recently took to the popular video-sharing platform TikTok to advocate for wearing masks, all while providing scientific evidence about its positive effects. Nye even peppered in some sound effects and graphics not unlike his work on the now-iconic TV show Bill Nye the Science Guy. Nye used a candle and four different types of face coverings to illustrate the ways that particle spread can be controlled.

“Face masks … prevent particles from my respiratory system from getting into the air and then into your respiratory system,” Nye explains in the video. “Blocking the movement of air is an old trick.”

“The reason we want you to wear a mask is to protect you, sure, but the main reason we want you to wear a mask is to protect me from you and the particles from your respiratory system from getting into my respiratory system!” Nye continues. “Everybody, this is a matter—literally—of life and death. And when I use the word ‘literally,’ I mean literally a matter of life and death. So when you’re out in public, please wear a mask.”

Nye’s PSA has earned a positive reaction from many on social media, with fans of the TV icon thanking him for laying out the science behind wearing masks. Nye’s video echoes official comments made by the Center for Disease Control, which advocates for wearing masks when you are coming into close contact with other people.

“Cloth face coverings are recommended as a simple barrier to help prevent respiratory droplets from traveling into the air and onto other people when the person wearing the cloth face-covering coughs, sneezes, talks, or raises their voice. This is called source control,” the CDC’s website says in part. “This recommendation is based on what we know about the role respiratory droplets play in the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, paired with emerging evidence from clinical and laboratory studies that shows cloth face coverings reduce the spray of droplets when worn over the nose and mouth. COVID-19 spreads mainly among people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet), so the use of cloth face coverings is particularly important in settings where people are close to each other or where social distancing is difficult to maintain.”

What do you think of Bill Nye’s TikTok about mask-wearing? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!