Grocery Store Goes Viral as Workers and Shoppers Simply Say ‘No’ to Masks

The last 12 months have felt as though they’ve lasted for well over a decade, thanks in no small part to the ongoing dread of the coronavirus pandemic.

We shouldn’t be panicking, that’s for sure.  There are innovative vaccines on their way into the general population, and the numbers do appear to be beginning to level off this week.  But there is still some danger out there, and health experts fear that coronavirus “fatigue” will push some Americans to simply forego their former precautions.

That seems to be precisely the case at one Florida supermarket.

Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a Florida supermarket is sparking outrage online after video surfaced of customers and employees going about their business without masks. The 15-second clip was shared Wednesday by NBC’s Sam Brock, who was astonished when he walked into the popular Naples, Florida grocery store only to see people both young and old flouting the rules for mask-wearing. Brock in his tweet wrote that a sign outside the store cited “medical exemptions,” preventing Brock from asking any questions.

The video has since been viewed more than 2 million times, raking in over 9,000 retweets and sparking even more comments from those outraged over the clip, which comes as the death toll in America continues to grow. Responding, one person wrote that “having a medical exemption for wearing a mask should not mean ‘c’mon in and infect everybody,'” adding that it instead means, “you can get your groceries shopped and delivered to you at the sidewalk. Or delivered at home. Or some other method. It’s not a free pass to be an a–hole.” Somebody else said the video was “pathetic,” with another person writing, “they’re all immune, until they’re not. And then an overworked, overstressed healthcare professional has to clean up their mess.”

The video has gone viral on social media.

New video from a supermarket in Florida shows customers and employees of all ages openly rejecting the rules for mask wearing, spurring outrage as the country continues to battle the coronavirus. @SamBrockNBC reports. pic.twitter.com/wzhnI52Yuq

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 4, 2021

The store’s owner has been notoriously “anti-mask” from the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, as as great many social media users pointed out.