A Florida woman who went viral last year for coughing on a cancer patient during the coronavirus pandemic has been sentenced to 30 days in jail, according to the Associated Press.
According to the arrest affidavit, Debra Hunter coughed on Heather Sprague last year after Sprague recorded her confrontation with employees inside a Pier 1 store. Hunter saw her and made a rude gesture before walking up and saying she would cough on her. And then she coughed on her.
Sprague, who is being treated for a brain tumor, told Judge James Ruth, she spent days anxiously searching for a place where she and her family could be tested for the coronavirus. The tests ended up being negative, she said.
“I worried for the health and safety of my children, and wondered how in the world I could possibly isolate to protect them — in a household of 12 — if I had been intentionally infected,” Sprague said.
In addition to the 30 days in jail, Hunter was also ordered to pay a $500 fine, serve six months probation and participate in a mental health evaluation along with anger management, according to AP. She was also ordered to cover the costs of Sprague’s COVID-19 test.
She told the judge her family has paid the price for her mistakes, adding that her children are losing friends, and they can’t go out in their community anymore. She did not mention the victim.
“Her children didn’t create this problem and her husband didn’t, and she talked about how it changed her world and she was getting nastygrams on Facebook and things of that nature and they can’t go to their country club or wherever,” the judge said according to AP. “But I have yet to see any expression, or a significant expression on her regret about the impact it had on the victim in this case.”
