Video Of Maskless Shoppers, Employees At FL Market Stuns Internet

NAPLES, FL — When a Miami-based NBC correspondent stopped by Oakes Farms Seed to Table Market in Naples to grab a bite to eat Wednesday, he didn’t think he’d be leaving with a video that has taken the internet by storm.

Inside the store, Sam Brock was surprised to find many customers and employees, both old and young, weren’t wearing masks.

Not only that, but he learned that Oakes Farms doesn’t require masks. A sign outside the store said customers don’t have to wear masks, citing “medical exemptions," and the store "can’t ask questions,” Brock tweeted Wednesday.

He also shared a 15-second clip from his shopping experience that has since gone viral. As of Thursday around 3:15 p.m., the video had 3.3 million views on Twitter.

In Collier County, masks are required in businesses because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Fox 4 reported. The county commission voted in October to extend its mask mandate through at least April.

Alfie Oakes, the market’s owner and a controversial figure in Naples, has filed two lawsuits challenging the county’s mask order since the start of the pandemic, the Naples Daily News reported.

In the first lawsuit, a federal judge threw out 11 of his 14 claims. This led to Oakes filing a narrower suit against the county in November. A federal judge recently dismissed his second complaint.

“I know that the masks don't work, and I know that the virus has not killed 400,000 people in this country. That's total hogwash," Oakes said when Brock followed up with him, Today reported. "Why don't we shut the world down because of a heart attack? Why don't we lock down cities because of heart attacks?"

More than 450,000 people in the United States have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic last year. To battle the transmission of coronavirus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have long recommended wearing face masks to prevent the spread of respiratory droplets.

Oakes, a Donald Trump supporter, also recently made headlines after attending the Jan. 6 rally outside the U.S. Capitol building. That rally turned into a violent and deadly riot when some in the crowd breached the Capitol and five people died, including a police officer.

Oakes took to the market’s Facebook page to discuss the event, calling it “the most peaceful beautiful demonstration from well over one million people that I’ve ever witnessed.”

In his post, he claimed the violence was conducted by a handful of “paid actors” and “a small group of aggressive Trump supporters caught up in the moment.”

“As hard as it is for good and honest people to believe this was a total set up to make President Trump and his supporters look bad, I am assuring you it was just that! I have to hand it to them it was an incredibly clever tactic orchestrated by those that will stop at nothing to ensure the Globalist take over of our United States,” he posted. “I watched with my own eyes as Capitol police invited happy and enthusiastic Trump supporters into the Capitol. They were totally unsuspecting they would be part of the ruse.”