Passenger Claiming She Was Confronted for Wearing Face Mask Sparks Debate

A woman wearing a face mask on a plane has claimed she was "yelled at" by another female passenger who allegedly told her "You know COVID is over, right?"

Rebecca Rogers, a 27-year-old full-time content creator based in North Carolina, posted a video about the alleged encounter in a viral clip shared from her Instagram account @rrogersworld.

The video, which shows Rogers wearing a mask while sitting on a plane and facing the camera, has had 4.2 million views since it was shared on Christmas Day last year. A caption shared with the post says: "This woman on my flight yelled at me over my mask..."

Rogers, who declined to share any flight details including the airline she was flying with at the time of the alleged incident, told Newsweek: "I went to take my seat on my flight, another lady was already sitting down in our row and as soon as I sat down she made a comment about my mask. I had not seen her or interacted with her before the flight."

According to Rogers, the woman allegedly made a few comments, such as "Seriously?" "Are you really wearing that?" and "You know COVID is over, right?"

Rogers later responded to the woman, explaining that she was wearing a mask because it's flu season and "not only do I have asthma, but I am allergic to Tamiflu, which is the medication people with severe flu reactions take to cure it."

She added: "So if I get a bad case of the flu, I am at a much higher risk of not being okay."

Face masks became a subject of heated debate during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Masks were previously required to be worn on planes, at airports and other forms of public transportation as part of an executive order under President Joe Biden's Administration in January 2021 in compliance with the guidelines of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Back in August 2021, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration reported it received 3,889 reports of unruly passengers, including 2,867 reports of those refusing to comply with the mask mandate.

In April 2022, the mandate was struck down by a federal judge, which allowed airlines and other transportation hubs to decide their own rules around mask requirements.

In August 2023, some businesses, hospitals and schools began reinstating mask mandates following an uptick in COVID-19-related hospitalizations, which sparked fears that mask requirements would return on planes.

A spokesperson for the CDC also told Newsweek in September 2023 that "rumors we've seen about plans for mask mandates are not true."

The federal body "continues to recommend that all people are up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines and take steps to protect themselves and others. Anyone may choose to wear a mask at any time," a CDC spokesperson told Newsweek later in September 2023.

'Contributing to Fearmongering'

Rogers told Newsweek that she initially ignored the other passenger on the plane, "which clearly upset her," claiming the woman "did not like being ignored" and "was clearly looking for an argument."

The content creator claimed that the woman went on to "call people who wear masks sheep," adding that Rogers "was contributing to fearmongering."

The other passenger allegedly told Rogers that "it was just blatantly rude to assume someone like her who was clean would give me a disease, even though COVID is just as harmless as the flu and that was just a fact and 'facts don't care about your feelings.'"

The 27-year-old also pointed out that "it is also RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) season, and my nephew had already been hospitalized twice this past year over it." So, she did not want to risk passing on any illness to family as she was traveling during the holidays, she explained.

Rogers said the other woman is correct in that "facts don't care about anyone's feelings, so if my wearing a mask offended her I guess she would just have to be offended because the facts of my medical health and needs aren't going to change."

The content creator said she did not alert any flight staff about the alleged incident and the other woman did not speak to her for the remainder of the flight.

"I saw a few other individuals on the flight wearing a mask, but did not notice anyone else's attitudes towards it. I have never been confronted about masks like that before, it was weird," Rogers said.

'That Lady Should Mind Her Own Business'

The video has divided users on Instagram, including many who were understanding of the original poster's position.

User martina.starling.92 said: "Your face/your mask/your decision and nobody needs make any comments."

User noapologies14 noted: "Even if it was just the flu, why would wearing a mask be a problem? Who wants the flu? Either way, that lady should mind her own business."

User sassynonnapt asked: "Why is it so triggering for a person to see another person masking? You got your way... no one is asking you to wear one..."

User saltyphantasma said: "People forget that masks aren't just for COVID avoidance. The RSV and flu is bad at both my jobs and I have literally one lung that works. I don't want their cooties."

'I Don't See the Point in Masks'

Others sided with the other passenger, such as shubby___jay who simply said: "Masks don't work."

User sarah_irwin_0123 noted: "I wouldn't yell at anyone, but I don't see the point in masks...the lady who yelled was rude, but her point was valid."

User wadetodd02 said: "That lady hating on the mask is right."

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