Employee finds COVID-19 hoax pamphlet left at store by customer

Amid an increase in COVID-19 cases in Kelowna, a small minority still believe the pandemic is a hoax. One downtown retail worker found a pamphlet disregarding the severity of the coronavirus at work last week.

Grace Anderson, who wishes to keep her employer anonymous, says she’s concerned with the misinformation being distributed — especially during the recent spike. 

“I think it’s very dangerous, there’s a lot of things in there about how masks inhibit breathing - which is not true. There was a lot of statistic about the mortality rates of the virus that are not true and I think that it’s just that sort of thinking contributes to people not taking it seriously,” she tells Castanet.  

Anderson says the store was fairly busy and didn’t notice the pamphlet until the customer left the store and is worried about how many have gone out. 

“I thought it was really unfortunate because obviously it meant that these were probably circulating wider if I was finding one.”

She adds the store was very busy and isn’t sure if the customer meant to leave it behind on purpose or if they were given the pamphlet by someone else. 

Anderson is an essential worker who’s worked throughout the pandemic and says the spike in cases makes her a little nervous at work.

“I just wished people were taking more precautions, I don’t see a lot of people wearing masks and I’ve certainly not seeing a lot of social distancing especially on Bernard (Avenue).”

As of Wednesday, Kelowna has been connected to over 70 active COVID-19 cases.

In April, a study found one-in-10 Canadians believe in coronavirus conspiracies.