When NBC’s Sam Brock walked into a grocery store in Naples, Florida, to buy a sandwich on Wednesday, he did not expect to see almost all employees and customers at the supermarket, people of all ages, without a mask.
Collier County and city regulations require corporate masks, but it quickly became clear that these rules were not being enforced. In fact, a sign outside the store said that customers don’t need to wear masks if they have a medical condition that prevents them from doing so and that store employees “can’t legally ask” about it to check.
Aflie Oakes, the owner of the supermarket in question, Oakes Farms Seed to Table, told Brock about his views on masking in an interview that aired Thursday TODAY.
“I know that the masks don’t work and I know that the virus did not kill 400,000 people in this country. This is total bullshit,” said Oakes. “Why don’t we close the world because of a heart attack? Why don’t we close cities because of heart attacks?”
In the USA, more than 450,000 people died of COVID-19. Florida’s COVID-19 death toll exceeded 27,000 on Monday, according to a local NBC affiliate. Public health experts said for months that widespread masking will prevent the virus from spreading and save lives, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “experimental and epidemiological data support community masking.”
“Probably the most important thing is that we see the use of the mask in more than 85%,” said Dr. Atul Gawande, former member of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board, to TODAY. “This has been a critical part of reducing these numbers (COVID-19).”
Brock’s video from the Oakes store, which he posted on Twitter on Wednesday, has been viewed more than 2 million times and has received widely outraged responses.
“They are all immune, until they are not. And then an overworked and overworked health professional has to clean up their mess.” I wrote a Twitter user.
“The administration (at Oakes Farmes) is intentionally spreading a deadly virus,” added other.
“Medical accommodation means you can buy and deliver your groceries on the sidewalk”, tweeted a third. “Or delivered at home. Or some other method. It is not a free pass to be a ——.”
Brock said the market is “unquestionably an outlier” and that most stores and supermarkets in the area follow the rules that require masks in companies. Collier County Commissioner Andy Solis, who proposed the mask’s mandate, expressed frustration with what Brock testified.
“It is very worrying to see images like this,” he said today. “I am concerned that this will lead to more cases and overburdened hospitals.”
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. MORE TODAY: