Texans responding to mask order with indifference, aggression, physical altercations

Though Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order requiring individuals to mask up while in public where it is effectively impossible to socially distance, not all citizens have responded well.

A Facebook video of a Texas woman verbally abusing a cashier and spitting on the counter of a Fort Worth 7-Eleven when told to wear a mask went viral on July 2. Another video showed an argument over face masks erupting into a physical altercation at a 99 Cents Only store in San Antonio.

The anger and indifference toward masks has spread into East Texas, as well. One reader reported an incident in which a couple verbally assaulted her and threatened to cough in her face at a local restaurant.

Another reader, 78-year-old Joe Anne Daigre, called The Lufkin Daily News to tell us about being coughed on by an unmasked man at a local store last week.

“I was terrified. I was just terrified,” Daigre said.

Daigre typically buys her groceries via scheduled pick-up, but every now and then she needs to go into the store to pick up a few items. On July 2, she was leaving the grocery store with her small basket of items when a couple moved past her and a man, not wearing a mask, coughed on her.

“I am just in shock,” she said. “He literally sprayed me with whatever was in his nose and throat.”

Daigre was wearing a mask, but she is still worried for herself and her 85-yearold friend with Alzheimer’s whom she cares for.

“If that guy had the COVID, he’s murdered two people as far as I’m concerned,” Daigre said. “I don’t think it was deliberate, but in either case, the results could be the same.”

She said she is counting the days and waking up every morning worried she will feel symptoms.

“It has nothing to do with who’s wearing the mask. You’re doing it for other people, to protect them from what you may or may not have,” she said. “This virus does not give a damn about your civil rights.”