A woman took off her mask and coughed in my face this afternoon

[Newhouse76]

Popped out for a 30 minute walk with DD,15 at 5pm. We always social distance keeping to the 2 metres.
We turned the corner into a railway bridge and saw a woman walking towards us - she was less than 2 metres away and she took off her mask and coughed in our direction . She didnt try and cover her cough in any way.

I told DD not to breathe and we walked away as fast as possible.

Feel quite panicky about it. I couldn’t describe her to anyone but its such a thoughtless thing to do

Fucking hell people are awful, you poor thing. Hope you and your DD stay well.

I don’t think I’m going to go out for walks any more.

If she did it on purpose, that's a criminal offence.

Went to a small Tesco today there was a man coughing all round the shop not even trying to cover his mouth. You just stand no chance

Try not to worry OP, because:
a) it might not have been a “Cv cough”
b) you might not have been close enough to be infected with anything
c) you might have already had it and been asymptomatic, but now are immune
d) you might catch it but have no or very mild symptoms.

We’re all likely to catch it at some point. I believe I and my son have had it and most of the time it’s been barely noticeable tbh. Worrying will not change the outcome but will just make you feel worse emotionally. Easy to say though, I know.

Did she do it on purpose, do you think?

Thank you everyone- I would like to think it was an accident however she was looking directly at us and made no attempt to cover her mouth.

I probably need to calm down as I have probably just wound myself up silly about this. Will stick to our small garden from now on I think

God, what is wrong with people?

@Newhouse76 try not to worry. Easier said than done I know.

In Asia, masks are worn to protect others when one is ill.

Here, however, they are worn to protect the wearer. If she was wearing a mask, she likely doesn't believe herself to be ill.

Still, exceedingly unpleasant and should be an arrestable offence just now.

This is the ad I got for this thread.

Something similar happened to a friend of mine last week. She lives alone, has some disabilities, and cannot move quickly.
She said she was walking home with a bag of shopping when a woman started staring at her from across the road. The woman then gave her "a nasty smile" and crossed the road towards her. Friend tried to keep out of the way bit the woman blocked her, coughed in her face, then walked on.

I was in a shop (first in two weeks ) when I suddenly swallowed funny, or something, so started coughing. I coughed into my elbow obviously, but just couldn't stop. I had to grab and open a bottle of water to stop myself, lest I put the fear of God into the entire shop.

Just making the point that people cough for a lot of reasons.

Also, I paid for the water on the way out.