Florida woman who coughed on Cancer patient gets 30 days in jail

A Florida woman, Debra Hunter, 52, whose image went viral when she coughed on a customer at a Pier 1 store last year in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic has been sentenced to 30 days in jail.

A judge in Jacksonville on Thursday also ordered Debra Hunter to pay a $500 fine, serve six months probation and participate in a mental health evaluation along with anger management, David Chapman, communications director for the state attorney’s office in Jacksonville, said in an email. She was also ordered to cover the costs of the victim’s COVID-19 test. According to FirstCoast News, the sentence decision follows more than seven months of court hearings and three plea deal attempts, which were all struck down. Ms Hunter’s tantrum was captured in a viral video early last year, as the United States was enduring the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ms Hunter, who was not wearing a mask, was in the middle of berating employees at a Pier 1 store when another customer, Heather Sprague, began filming her. Ms Sprague then posted the video on Facebook, where it was shared 36,000 times. She then reported the incident to the police. Unbeknownst to Ms Hunter, the woman she’d coughed on was being treated for brain cancer, making her especially vulnerable to the coronavirus. Her test, fortunately, came back negative.