Maskless woman fired after coughing on masked woman, daughter in Nebraska supermarket
In this photo illustration, products containing high sugar levels are on display at a supermarket on April 8, 2016 in Melbourne , Australia. (Photo by Luis Ascui/Getty Images)
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LINCOLN, Neb. (KRON) — An unmasked woman who was caught on camera appearing to deliberately cough inside a Lincoln, Nebraska, supermarket where an indoor mask mandate is in place has lost her job.
Video of the incident was originally shared on Reddit by user Jessabird, who said she was with her child at the store when the masked woman allegedly approached them and asked why they were wearing masks.
“She asked if I’ve had a vaccine and said that my kid and I don’t need to wear masks because we look young and healthy. There were several other people around wearing masks but for some reason, she chose to pick on me and my kid,” Jessabird wrote.
In the video, the unmasked woman walks toward the camera and coughs multiple times in their direction.
The girl’s father shared videos of the incident on Twitter and said the woman “instigated the whole thing. Picked a mother/child to harass.” He told NewsNation affiliate KRON that his daughter’s mother took the video.
A second tweeted video shows the moments before the woman began coughing. In it, she is heard saying, “I don’t need to have (a mask) on, I’m not sick and neither are you.”
According to the video, the unmasked woman then starts coughing openly in the supermarket and says it’s her allergies.
Jessabird said an employee tried to intervene, and the woman walked away, but Jessabird alleges that the woman followed her around the store afterward.
“She laughed and kept saying, ‘Look at you, it’s so cute how scared you are!’ By this time I was absolutely livid, trying my best to hold it together in front of my kid. I didn’t finish my shopping, instead I went to the self checkout to pay for my stuff,” Jessabird wrote.
The post said she informed another employee at the checkouts about the woman coughing on her earlier but left before getting an employee response.
On Thursday, Lincoln police hadn’t received a complaint from a victim, which would have been necessary to file charges against the woman, KMTV reported. However, two online activists known for tracking down people in similar videos identified the woman as an Arizona resident and former employee of German company SAP.
On Wednesday evening, the company stated via Twitter, “We have reviewed the incident and can confirm that the individual in question no longer works for SAP.”
According to the city of Lincoln, everyone is required to wear face masks indoors regardless of vaccination status.
At this time, Lancaster County is considered “high risk of COVID-19 spread and impact in the community,” according to a Sept. 3 update.
NewsNation affiliate KRON4 has reached out to Jessabird for comment.
