TORONTO —
A Toronto woman who refused to wear a mask while seeking treatment at a hospital and was forced out filmed and posted the incident on social media, drawing condemnation from local officials, celebrities and thousands of others.
Letitia Montana said she went to St. Joseph’s Hospital with her son on July 4 for a “suspected broken finger.”
“You’re making me wear a mask otherwise you are going to deny me service,” she is heard saying in the video filmed at the front counter of the emergency room.
“Yes, we’re asking you to wear a mask,” a nurse replies.
The video does not show Montana being escorted out of the emergency room.
It has since been viewed more than four million times.
Non-medical mask use has been encouraged by health officials across North America, and became mandatory in all indoor, public spaces in Toronto on Tuesday, as a means of slowing the spread of COVID-19.
A growing body of research has shown that mask use can reduce the emission of respiratory droplets that carry the virus, reducing the risk for people who cannot remain apart from infecting each other if both are masked.
It has also spurred backlash from some, including Montana, who say they lead to other health problems and their use was mandated as a form of political control.
Most on social media weren’t having any of it.
City of Toronto chief spokesperson Brad Ross warned Montana she was going to become a verb.
Councillor Michael Ford, who had to be hospitalized after contracting COVID-19 last month, chimed in as well, calling refusing to wear a mask selfish.
The encounter drew attention south of the border, where an even larger share of the population is up in arms against mask use due to COVID-19.
Montana said later on Twitter she stood by her decision to not don a mask in the emergency room.
