California beachgoers say masks ‘are killing us’ and coronavirus ‘is a f***ing lie’ as they refuse free face coverings in county where they are required – and one man even threatens to fight two YouTubers handing them out
- In a video posted online Tuesday by YouTubers Chad Kroeger and JT Parr a number of people on Huntington Beach turn down the offer of free masks
- One couple say masks ‘are killing us’; another man says coronavirus ‘is a f***ing lie’; one beachgoer even offers to fight the two YouTubers over their offer
- Masks are required while out in public in Orange County, where the clip was shot
- On Thursday California reported its largest two-day total of confirmed cases, nearly 20,000, along with 258 deaths in the last 48 hours
- Cases are threatening to overwhelm some hospitals in the state
California beachgoers have been filmed refusing free masks in a county where they are required, as cases there threaten to overwhelm some hospitals in the state.
In a video posted online Tuesday by YouTubers Chad Kroeger and JT Parr a number of people on Huntington Beach turn down the offer of the face coverings.
One couple, refusing a mask, say they ‘are killing us’; another man says coronavirus ‘is a f***ing lie’. One beachgoer even offers to fight the two YouTubers. Masks are required while out in public in Orange County, where the clip was shot.
On Thursday California reported its largest two-day total of confirmed cases, nearly 20,000, along with 258 deaths in the last 48 hours. There are more than 8,000 people in hospitals who have either tested positive for the coronavirus or are suspected to have it.
The footage, called Solving the Mask Shortage in Huntington Beach, has been watched more than one million times. One of the men behind it, Kroeger, told CBS: ‘It is interesting how people interpreted it as a personal judgment.’
In video posted online by YouTubers Chad Kroeger and JT Parr Tuesday a number of people on Huntington Beach turn down the offer of the face coverings
One beachgoer even offers to fight the two YouTubers following their offer of a free mask
California is grappling with a rise in infections and hospitalizations after allowing many businesses to reopen and as people gather in warmer weather.
The footage begins with a couple who say they ‘don’t need one’, with the unnamed woman adding: ‘I don’t know if anybody has explained to you that breathing your own carbon monoxide is not healthy.’
The man she is with then adds: ‘You do not want to go to hell, do you?’
Another woman says she does not need a mask because she ‘lives here’.
The clip then shows a man who, after refusing the offer, tells the two men: ‘It’s (coronavirus) a f***ing lie.’
At one point a man riding a bicycle appears to offer to fight the YouTubers, telling them: ‘You believe in masks. I don’t. Or if you want some of me? Come on and get this.’
The YouTubers reply: ‘We’re not trying to fight anyone. We just want to hand out masks.’
This man called coronavirus a ‘f***ing lie’ after refusing the offer of a free mask
These two men gladly took the free masks and promised to wear them, the footage shows
CDC Director Dr. Robert R. Redfield has said: ‘Cloth face coverings are one of the most powerful weapons we have to slow and stop the spread of the virus – particularly when used universally within a community setting.
‘All Americans have a responsibility to protect themselves, their families, and their communities.’
California governor Gavin Newsom has been forced to shutter bars and indoor dining throughout California and halted indoor religious services, gyms and salons in most places after virus-related hospitalizations jumped 28% in two weeks.
Teams of military doctors, nurses and other health care specialists are also being deployed to eight California hospitals facing staffing shortages amid a record-breaking surge of coronavirus cases across the state.
The Air Force, at California’s request, assigned 160 people to increase capacity in intensive care units.
California had been on a good trajectory with its virus efforts until mid-June.
