A woman dubbed a “Karen” compared mask-wearing Salvation Army collectors to criminals in a video posted to Reddit on Tuesday. A tweet that shared the same video said the incident took place in Kansas.
In the video, the woman approaches people collecting money for the Salvation Army workers outside of an establishment and criticizes them for wearing masks. It’s unclear if the collectors are paid employees or volunteers.
“When you gotta rob a bank, that’s when you wear a mask,” the woman says. “Not when you’re representing a nonprofit organization.”
One of the workers asks the woman to stop yelling, and she says, “Let’s just see if the Salvation Army is gonna invite you back.” The woman adds that nonprofits whose workers wear masks are “a disgrace to America.”
In response to the novel coronavirus, the Salvation Army said it “ramped up efforts to slow the spread of this virus among our employees, volunteers, and the homeless and other vulnerable people we serve.”
By Wednesday, the U.S. reported a total of 13.7 million COVID-19 cases and over 270,000 deaths. Kansas has reported more than 160,000 cases, according to the New York Times.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends social distancing and proper mask usage to slow the spread of COVID-19.
In response to the video of the “Karen,” one Twitter user said there should be a database of COVID-19 deniers. Another recommended the Salvation Army workers “ring the bell louder and louder.”
