Kansas Couple Claiming To Have Coronavirus Walks Around Walmart Coughing On People, Incident Caught On Camera

The Newton Police Department on Monday arrested a couple from Hesston, Kansas, who was caught on video coughing on other people while walking inside a Walmart store shouting that they had coronavirus.

The couple, identified as 47-year-old Ernest Williams and 29-year-old Hazel Hamrick, was seen walking through the store screaming at other shoppers they were COVID-19 positive.

While Williams coughed on other shoppers, Hamrick shouted at the bystanders that she was coronavirus positive. No one reported the incident to the police, but the officers responded after they saw the video on a social media platform.

“Police were not called at the time of this incident, but our officers began investigating after seeing the video on social media,” the Newton, KS Police Department stated in a press release.

Newton Deputy Chief Scott Powell told local media that the couple “was trying to be funny.”

“They aren’t taking this COVID-19 pandemic seriously. They think it’s all overblown,” Powell said. “We’ve talked to the county attorney’s office and they’re going to aggressively prosecute the case because it’s not funny.”

“This behavior constitutes, at a minimum, felony criminal threat. This is not a joke, whether it’s intended as humor or not. Our department takes this incredibly seriously, and we will continue to interview victims and witnesses,” the statement released by the police read.

In a video released by the couple to a local media on Tuesday afternoon, the pair is seen asking for forgiveness.

Hamrick said “ I was not meaning anything by it. I wasn’t saying that he — my fiance (Williams) — has coronavirus. I was just trying to let people know that somebody else had that in the store. I wish y'all would forgive. If y'all can't forgive me, I understand. I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

Williams said that the coughing wasn't intentional and was a regular "smoker's cough" and said he "coughs a lot as it is."

The couple was arrested on grounds of a felony charge of criminal threat and a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. Both of them were booked into Harvey County Jail. The couple posted for bail Tuesday afternoon.