Video of anti-mask woman in Calgary fabric store goes viral

© Provided by Calgary Herald This unidentified woman was filmed mocking and berating employees at a Calgary store who asked her to put on a mask, as per the city bylaw. The incident happened at a Calgary Fabricland on Sunday, Sept. 13.

A video of a woman berating employees who asked her to wear a mask at a Calgary store has gone viral on the internet.

A manager at the Fabricland at 7310 Fisher Road S.E. confirmed the incident happened in that store on Sunday, but declined to speak further on the incident.

The video shows a woman with pink glasses pointing her finger at an employee who is speaking with her about the need to wear a mask.

Throughout the video, the woman speaks to several people in a mocking, childish voice while arguing that the COVID-19 pandemic is a hoax.

“You are a sheep, just like the rest of them,” says the unidentified woman. “Why don’t you people educate yourself?”

She then mocks another person who was filming the exchange.

“Are you afraid? You should run away. But you have your super mask on.”

Warning: Video contains strong language.

A staff member calmly continues to ask the woman to leave the store, until she eventually complies.

“If I ever come back here again and this thing is proven to be a hoax, I want an apology from each and every one of you sheep,” says the woman.

The video was picked up and shared by a New York-based Twitter user, and has since had more than 415,000 views on that account alone.

The City of Calgary passed a mask bylaw in July, which went into effect Aug. 1. It requires face masks in any indoor space the public has access to, including retail stores, shopping malls, recreation centres, churches and public common spaces in office buildings.

A city survey done in August found 89 per cent of Calgary residents are complying with the bylaw .

Dr. Amy Tan, associate professor in the department of family medicine at the Cumming School of Medicine, said contrary to what the woman in the video argued, evidence continues to emerge that masks prevent the spread of droplets, which curtails the spread of COVID-19.

“We also are seeing emerging evidence that wearing a cloth reusable mask can decrease any viral exposure the wearer would get, and so potentially you’d get a less severe form of COVID even if you were to be exposed,” said Tan.

She said she’s disheartened to see videos of people attacking one another, adding that we all want the pandemic to be over.

“I think that’s what a lot of the people who were against masking are actually against: it’s the visible reminder that COVID-19 is still here,” said Tan.

“Ignoring it will just make it harder and worse for everyone.”

While Tan is urging kindness and patience during the pandemic, a new poll by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies suggests an increasing number of Canadians are starting to feel that warnings from public officials about the threat of COVID-19 are overblown.

Almost one-quarter of respondents in an online poll say they believe public health and government officials exaggerate in their warnings, including about the need for measures such as physical distancing to slow the spread of the pandemic.

Regionally, respondents in Alberta were more likely to believe the threat was embellished, followed by Atlantic Canada and Quebec, with Ontario at the bottom.

Younger respondents were more likely than those over 55 to believe statements were being exaggerated.

The online poll was conducted Sept. 11 to 13 and surveyed 1,539 adult Canadians. It cannot be assigned a margin of error because internet-based polls are not considered random samples.

— With files from The Canadian Press

brthomas@postmedia.com

Twitter: @brodie_thomas