TikTokers are mocking anti-mask videos by dousing their masks in water: 'This is a sneeze'
- On TikTok, people are mocking anti-mask videos that attempt to show that masks didn't work by pressing a spray bottle to the fabric and spritzing water through to simulate a sneeze.
- People initially worked to debunk a series of since-deleted videos that appear to have been from TikTok user @sarahjamison, showing masks retaining water or what would happen if social distancing was taken into account.
- The line "this is a sneeze" has now become a meme, with people dunking their faces in water or spraying themselves with hoses to mock the original videos.
Over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, masks have become the site of a culture war. Despite evidence supporting wearing masks for personal and community protection and to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, masks have become a particularly contentious symbol over the course of the past few months. That culture war has, of course, extended to TikTok.
On the app, a trend mocking anti-maskers who attempt to demonstrate the inefficacy of masks has been taking off. After a series of videos purporting to demonstrate that masks don't work by simulating a sneeze with a spray bottle, people on TikTok are now getting their masks soaking wet to hyperbolically prove a point.
The trend appears to have originated with a series of videos from TikToker @sarahjamison that have since been deleted or set to private. @sarahjamison's account is now set to private as well. The user did immediately respond to request for comment.
Those videos, while currently unavailable in their original form, live on via reposts on TikTok.
In one, the user that appears to be @sarahjamison holds up a camouflage print neck gaiter, says, "This is a sneeze," and presses a spray bottle up to the fabric of the mask itself. The water from the spray bottle travels through, and the woman says, "They don't f---ing work, that's why."
Others on TikTok have also responded to the videos by using TikTok's stitch function. In one video with approximately 1.5 million likes, user @francisyoyo holds what appears to be a surgical mask under a faucet to show it retaining water.
Others have worked to debunk the claims in viral videos that demonstrate how social distancing may play into mask efficacy. In one video, preserved in a repost from user @missys20, a person that also appears to be @sarahjamison holds a lighter close to the mask and blows. In a response, @missys20 says, "If you're practicing social distancing..." before unsuccessfully attempting to blow out a lighter at arms' length.
The mask testing videos, and particularly the "this is a sneeze" line, have traveled far past just direct responses to the @sarahjamison's deleted videos.
This is far from the first time mask discourse has emerged on TikTok. As Insider's Amanda Krause reported, a hair salon that caters to a number of internet-famous stars came under fire following numerous videos that showed hairdressers and clients failing to wear masks.
On its COVID-19 resources page, TikTok says that it is taking steps to curb misleading information tied to the novel coronavirus on the platform, saying that it "[removes] misinformation that could cause harm to an individual's health or wider public safety."
TikTok did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
While the "this is a sneeze" trend has become a meme this point, the science is clear — masks are far from useless, and can help curtail transmission of the novel coronavirus.
- Read more:
- Wearing a mask doesn't reduce your oxygen levels, and 6 other mask myths you should stop believing now
- The face mask is a political symbol in America, and what it represents has changed drastically in the 100 years since the last major pandemic
- One chart shows the best and worst face masks for coronavirus protection — and which situations they're suited for
- WHO: Fabric masks need 3 layers to best curb coronavirus spread