'I was really scared. It started to make me paranoid because I was thinking, did she actually infect me?'
“I felt her breath and I felt it you know, on your face kind of like when someone sneezes and she was very close to you,” said Goodbaum. “So that part was pretty jarring.”
“I was shocked,” she added. “That was her initial reaction -- was to cough on me. And I was really scared. It started to make me paranoid because I was thinking, did she actually infect me? Because prior to the video, she said she had antibodies, so she can’t infect people. I wasn’t looking to attack anyone because that’s not in my nature. My goal of saying something was to make the establishment aware that I felt unsafe in their store.
Similar cases like these are leaving many wondering: Is this a punishable offense? Dan Abrams, ABC News chief legal analyst, says it’s tricky."There have been a number of cases around the country where someone hasn't just spit on someone or coughed on someone, they've also claimed they had COVID-19," he said.
While the woman in the video may not face criminal charges, Goodbaum said she is considering pressing charges herself based on reports that the woman may work in the medical field and she doesn’t think she should be treating patients.“You know, please just take this seriously,” said Goodbaum. “It’s unchartered territory for all of us. Nobody wants to take one big step back. And I think the more that these things happen, there’s a greater likelihood that could happen.
Since the incident, the store has since apologized in a statement and said, “The behavior of the woman is unacceptable … customers and employees MUST wear a mask in all our stores. Our staff was caught off guard.”
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