Healthcare Professional Gets Yelled At In A Gas Station For Wearing A Mask, Pens The ‘Perfect’ Response

If you think that 2020 is stressful for you, imagine working long shifts as a healthcare professional during the coronavirus crisis, only to have some random person shame and insult you for wearing a mask. In the middle of a pandemic. That’s bound to get your blood boiling, isn’t it?

Imgur user Toulouselachat was yelled at while she was at a gas station for being a “bleepin’ mask-wearing libtard” and penned a comeback online. Her post got more than 4.1k upvotes on the image sharing site and the support of plenty of internet users.

Toulouselachat explained that she had just finished her 24th 15-hour shift within the last month and that she was responsible for codes and rapid responses on the Covid-19 units. The night that she was yelled at, she had to intubate 2 people. The nurse sees wearing masks as a health issue, not a political one, and wants others to think the same way.

A nurse shared how a random person yelled at her at a gas station because she was wearing a face mask

She penned a response after going back home

Some US states are reopening while others have paused loosening lockdown regulations because of an increase in the number of infections. Meanwhile, states like California now require people to wear face masks or other coverings in most public spaces. This is done to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. However, some people see this as an attempt to control them and infringe on their freedom.

Right now, both the World Health Organization, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend wearing masks for the general public. If you have a good memory, you’ll remember that both the WHO and the CDC said the exact opposite early on in the pandemic. It’s this flip-flopping that’s in part responsible for there being mixed messages about mask-wearing in the US.

So why did both organizations recommend the public not wear masks before and why did they change their recommendations? According to UC San Francisco epidemiologist George Rutherford, there was a concern that the limited supply of surgical masks and N95 respirators should be saved for healthcare workers. However, he said that “we should have told people to wear cloth masks right off the bat.” However, hindsight is 20/20.

Meanwhile, Rutherford’s colleague, infectious disease specialist Peter Chin-Hong, added that the US wasn’t culturally prepared to wear masks, unlike some Asian countries where the practice is commonplace.