‘This is not that hard to understand’: Bill Nye the Science Guy urges anti-maskers to wear face coverings
Bill Nye hosts National Park Foundation 'View-A-Thon' at Mashable on November 29, 2016 in New York City.
LOS ANGELES - As the coronavirus pandemic continues to hit alarming milestones, notable TV scientist Bill Nye explained why masks are effective in curbing transmission and the spread of COVID-19.
Bill Nye, known as “the Science Guy,” posted a video on TikTok, which broke down why wearing a mask is important.
In the video, which has now gone viral and amassed over 15.5 million views, Nye revealed a map of the United States.
@billnye I don’t know who needs to hear this but... ##masks work. Wear one. Carry on... ##tiktokpartner ##learnontiktok
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“Here’s a map of the United States. The red ink shows where people are wearing masks,” Bill Nye began.
Next, he showed another map, illustrating where people were getting sick from the novel coronavirus.
Bill Nye explains the importance of wearing a mask to combat COVID-19 in viral Tik Tok video. (Photo: @billnye on Tik Tok)
"The black ink shows where people are getting sick with coronavirus," Nye explained. "I hope you can see, the fewer the masks, the more the sick."
Nye acknowledged false claims and perceptions that the COVID-19 virus can travel through the fibers of a mask.
“They [viruses] travel in droplets of spit and snot, and the fibers are tangled,” he said.
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Nye demonstrated how viruses travel, explaining that the virus travels in little droplets of “spit and snot“ in the air.
“When the droplet gets into the fibers of a mask, it gets trapped,” Nye explained. “This is not that hard to understand, everybody. That's why we have rules about wearing a mask.”
Bill Nye explains the importance of wearing a mask to combat COVID-19 in viral Tik Tok video. (Photo: @billnye on Tik Tok)
This is not the first video that Bill Nye has created on social media to discuss COVID-19. In July, Nye shared a public service announcement about face masks and how effective the materials used to make them are.
In that video, he urged viewers to wear a face covering as he tried to blow out a candle with his mouth covered by a few different materials.
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“The reason we want you to wear a mask is to protect you, sure,” he said. “But the main reason we want you to wear a mask is to protect me from you and the particles in your respiratory system from getting into my respiratory system.”
Coronavirus prevention guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continue to promote social distancing of at least 6 feet from others, frequent hand washing and wearing face coverings in public.
“So everyone, please, wear a mask. Thank you,” Nye said in his recent video.
This new video comes as the U.S. recorded more than 3,000 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, the highest in a single day since the onset of the pandemic, according to the COVID Tracking Project. This record came just one day after the country surpassed 15 million coronavirus cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.