When NBC’s Sam Brock walked into a grocery store in Naples, Florida to buy a sandwich on Wednesday, he didn’t expect that nearly every employee and customer at the grocery store, people of all ages, wouldn’t be wearing a mask.
Collier County and city codes require masks in businesses, but it quickly became apparent that these rules were not being enforced. In fact, a sign outside the store said that customers do not have to wear masks if they have a medical condition that prevents them from doing this and that store employees “cannot legally ask” them to verify this.
Aflie Oakes, the owner of the supermarket in question, Oakes Farms Seed to Table, told Brock about his take on masking in an interview aired Thursday on TODAY.
“I know the masks don’t work, and I know the virus didn’t kill 400,000 people in this country. That’s total nonsense,” Oakes said. “Why don’t we close the world because of a heart attack? Why don’t we close cities because of a heart attack?”
In the US, more than 450,000 people have died from COVID-19. The COVID-19 death toll in Florida surpassed 27,000 Monday, according to a local NBC affiliate. Public health experts have been saying for months that widespread masking will prevent the spread of the virus and save lives, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “experimental and epidemiological data support the masking of communities.”
“Probably most importantly, we are seeing mask use in excess of 85%,” said Dr. Atul Gawande, a former member of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board, TODAY. “That has been a critical part of getting these (COVID-19) numbers.”
Brock’s video from Oakes’s shop, die he posted on Twitter on Wednesday, has been viewed more than 2 million times and received largely outrageous response.
“They’re all immune, until they aren’t anymore. And then an overworked, overworked caregiver has to clean up their mess,” wrote a Twitter user.
“Management (at Oakes Farmes) is deliberately spreading a deadly virus,” added another.
“Medical accommodation means you can get your groceries done and delivered to the sidewalk,” tweeted a third. Or delivered at home. Or another method. It’s not a free pass to be a ——. ‘
Brock said the market is “undoubtedly an outlier” and that most of the shops and supermarkets in the area follow the rules that require masks in businesses. Collier County Commissioner Andy Solis, who proposed the mask mandate, expressed frustration at what Brock saw.
“It’s very worrying to see images like this,” he said TODAY. “I’m afraid it will lead to more cases and overwhelming hospitals.”
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY: