Cedar Park Woman's Anti-Mask Rant Goes Viral
CEDAR PARK, TX — A Cedar Park woman who filmed herself decrying being declined service at an HEB grocery store has gone viral.
Katie Bug streamed herself on Facebook and the video was later posted on r/PublicFreakout subreddit. In the video, Bug complains that she was "harassed" by another customer for not wearing a mask and later refused to check out her items after she complained to the manager.
It's not clear from the video when the incident occurred. The HEB grocery store chain is among myriad businesses requiring the use of masks before entering their stores as a way of blunting the spread of the coronavirus.
"I have anxiety and PTSD," she said between sobs on the live stream, the latter condition referencing post-traumatic stress disorder. "They were berating me about not wearing one even though I told them I have a medical exemption," Bug said between tears. "There's no compassion left in this world," she further lamented while loudly sobbing. "Nobody asked me if I was okay."
In the video, Bug is seen wearing a shirt that says "Shed The Mask." The same sentiment is emblazoned on her Facebook cover photo.
In the video, the woman promulgates a widely debunked theory positing that less than 10,000 people have died of coronavirus in the U.S. in suggesting the numbers have been artificially inflated. Her assertion stems from recent updates made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing underlying conditions among those dying of COVID-19. Health officials noted the data sets were based on analysis of death certificates mentioning COVID-19 as a cause and the 6 percent total mentioning the respiratory illness as the sole cause of death noted.
Skeptics extrapolated from that data that the coronavirus count is actually exponentially lower than what has been reported. In the immediate aftermath of the CDC update, the term "Only 6 percent" began trending on Twitter last weekend — pushed especially aggressively by supporters of QAnon conspiracists. Donald Trump was among those tweeting about the issue, only to have his message taken down by Twitter for violating the social media platform's rules on spreading of misinformation.
A follow-up video, also posted on Facebook, depicts a calmer Bug now in her car. The woman said she ultimately was allowed to buy her groceries, but will still complain to the corporate office. She provided more details about the confrontation with the other customer, saying she told her that if her three-year-old can wear a mask so should she.
"No, I can't, and also, your child shouldn't, because children 10 and under shouldn't for sure," Bug said on the second video detailing her retort to the other customer. "I didn't tell her that it was child abuse, but anyway."
Bug's rants have extended well beyond the confines of Cedar Park after being posted on Twitter and Reddit. The dailydot.com and now Patch are among the media outlets that have since picked up on the story.
Many in the comments threads have pointed out that Bug should have merely worn a mask to avert anxiety. Her video also gained entry into a Facebook page called crazykarens, a compendium of people making false reports or going over the top in complaining after taking umbrage over a number of situations.
This article originally appeared on the Cedar Park-Leander Patch
