A Geraldine pensioner was surprised to receive a visit from police late last month, after he forgot to wear his face mask while out shopping.
Seventy-eight-year-old James Lang said he generally wears a mask when he goes out, but was on autopilot when he popped into the Geraldine Pharmacy to pick up a prescription on October 28.
“My feet have a better memory than my head.”
“I walked in there with no mask on. I walked up to the counter, nobody said anything.”
[…] Lang said as he was about to leave the pharmacy one of the staff told him to put a mask on.
[…] he had been home a couple of hours when police arrived to talk to him about mask compliance.
“Talk about things getting out of hand,” Lang said.
Lang said he told police he wasn’t trying to make a point, and had merely forgotten to put his mask on.
He said the police officer was polite and pleasant.
“He said if you forget again, come over to the police station and grab a mask.”
But, Lang said he was surprised at what he believes is an overreaction.
“We shouldn’t be controlling it like that, sending the police round.”
“It’s getting a bit stroppy when police are coming out to an old place like this.”
[…] Lang said he now travels to the nearby town of Temuka to go to the chemist, and intends to bypass the local pharmacy in the future.
Stuff
What I would like to know is how did the police obtain his name and address details? Isn’t our private personal information held by health providers supposed to remain confidential? Not wearing a mask is not against the law. It is a Health Order but not following it does not constitute a crime. Remember this is the South Island, where there isn’t a single case of Covid! How dare they treat this man like a criminal and reveal his name and address details to the police.
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