Actor Bruce Willis has acknowledged his behaviour — but did not apologize — after he was spotted in a Los Angeles Rite Aid on Tuesday without a mask.
Sensitivities in the city are heightened as it’s seeing one of the worst COVID-19 infection rates in the United States.
According to multiple sources, Los Angeles sees a person infected with COVID-19 every six seconds. One person is dying every eight minutes and one in 17 residents may now be infected with the virus.
“It was an error in judgment,” Willis told People magazine exclusively. “Be safe out there everyone and let’s continue to mask up.”
On Tuesday, celebrity news site Page Six (the entertainment arm of the New York Post) posted a photo to social media showing Willis, 65, maskless and wearing a scarf around his neck in the store.
Many people on social media reacted negatively to Willis’ cavalier attitude toward mask-wearing, with some calling him a “covidiot” — a term meant to shame those with ignorant, selfish reactions to COVID-19.
There were many Die Hard jokes to be had as well.
Hospitals in L.A. are so overcapacity that authorities have directed paramedics not to transport patients who have little chance of survival, and some are waiting up to eight hours to discharge patients from their ambulances.
There are more than two million COVID-19 cases in California, and 945,000 in L.A. County alone.
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