Hazmat-Suit-Wearing COVID Cops Bust Female Surfer

The world as we know is still besieged by virus with no known cure and no vaccine, and governments around the globe are still grappling with how best to get a handle on the situation.

For some, strict lockdowns and even stricter enforcement have been the key, but there are drawbacks to this as well.  Citizens are revolting in places like Berlin, Germany, claiming that such measures constitute an authoritarian turn.

This sentiment came to a head this week as a surfer in Europe was hauled off the beach by authorities in hazmat suits for daring to be outside while infected.

Police were seen running to the shoreline to handcuff her on La Zurriola beach in Spain’s northern city of the tourist hotspot San Sebastian.

The unidentified woman reportedly ignored officers who ordered her out of the water for several minutes.

After heading back to the shoreline she was held on suspicion of a crime of disobedience.

Local reports said the unnamed woman had worked as a lifeguard at San Sebastian’s famous La Concha beach this summer and colleagues were the ones who phoned police after spotting her in the water.

Photos of the arrest who two people wearing hazmat suits escorting her on the sand in a neoprene top and bikini bottom with a face mask on.

The scene was downright dystopian.

"We were informed that this person had tested positive (for Covid-19) and was on sick leave and that she still went surfing," a spokeswoman for local police said https://t.co/LVuSaqg2vU

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) September 9, 2020

The news will surely reignite the debate over what acceptable enforcement of local COVID ordinances should look like.