In Collier County, Florida, customers and employees are required to wear face masks inside stores and businesses; however, when NBC employee Sam Brock walked inside a grocery store in Collier County, he hardly saw anyone wearing a face mask or following social distancing guidelines. It looked incredibly like most places looked pre-COVID.
Brock entered Oakes Farms Seed to Table because he wanted to buy a sandwich. Instead, he ended up recording the scene he saw in front of him. Employees chatted with customers without any sort of plexiglass barrier. Only a few customers were wearing face masks. It was shocking.
In an interview for NBC News, Aflie Oakes, the owner for Oakes Farms Seed to Table, expressed his controversial views about face masks. “I know that the masks don’t work, and I know that the virus has not killed 400,000 people in this country. That’s total hogwash.” He added, “I’ve never worn a mask in my life, and I never will.”
After filming the store, Brock posted the video to Twitter, and in just one day, it has already been retweeted more than 11,000 times.
As #Flordia fights community spread of COVID on a massive scale, this is a 15-second snapshot of a supermarket in Naples. Many employees and customers- even older ones- with no masks on inside. Store sign outside cites “medical exemptions,” we can’t ask questions. @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/rNUSOPLjeB
— Sam Brock (@SamBrockNBC) February 3, 2021
In the comments, many people are expressing outrage at the lack of social distancing and missing face masks at this Florida grocery store.
I live 10 minutes away from that grocery store, and it is absolutely astonishing to see the lack of Covid procedures everywhere in that store. No employees wear masks, they still sell Trump merchandise outside, and they have this sign when you first walk in. pic.twitter.com/pJXzsaUC1x
— lulu (@laurafreyhof) February 3, 2021
They’re all immune, until they’re not. And then an overworked, overstressed healthcare professional has to clean up their mess.
— Patty (@suo_gan) February 3, 2021
Having a medical exemption for wearing a mask should not mean “c’mon in and infect everybody.”Medical accommodation 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 asshole.
— Ethel Mercaptan (@EthelMercaptan) February 3, 2021
How is Oakes getting away with not requiring face masks? He has a sign posted outside the store that explains that people with medical conditions are not required to wear face masks, and the store’s employees will assume that if you aren’t wearing a face mask you must have a medical condition.
Andy Solis, is the Collier County Commissioner, and he finds this video of Oakes Farms Seed to Table frustrating and concerning. In an interview for TODAY, he explained, “It’s very concerning to see images like this. I’m worried that it will lead to more cases and overwhelmed hospitals.”
How would you react if you walked into a store and nobody was wearing a face mask or social distancing?