NBC’s Peter Alexander Savages Maskless Florida Grocery Store in Exchange with Psaki: ‘What Do You Say’ to These Folks?!

A viral video showing a Florida grocery store filled with maskless patrons drew the ire of a prominent White House reporter, and prompted him to ask about it in the briefing room.

During Thursday’s session with press secretary Jen Psaki, NBC News correspondent Peter Alexander brought up the footage shot at a supermarket in Naples, FL — which has racked up more than three million views on one reporter’s Twitter feed alone — showing the county’s mask ordinance being completely ignored by shoppers.

As #Flordia fights community spread of COVID on a massive scale, this is a 15-second snapshot of a supermarket in Naples. Many employees and customers- even older ones- with no masks on inside. Store sign outside cites “medical exemptions,” we can’t ask questions. @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/rNUSOPLjeB

— Sam Brock (@SamBrockNBC) February 3, 2021

“When you pan the grocery store, you see almost everybody in there is not wearing a mask, even though it’s in a county where masks are mandated,” Alexander said. “Beyond urging Americans to wear masks, what specifically is this White House doing to combat that resistance especially given concerns about the coronavirus mutations and others right now?”

Psaki replied that President Joe Biden is focusing on communication — in an effort to educate the public about the benefits of masks — as well as setting an example by wearing masks at the White House. Alexander followed up by calling out the owner of the Florida market for saying that he believes the coronavirus death toll has been grossly inflated and is “hogwash.”

“What do you say to the folks like those we saw in this video?!” Alexander said. “I believe one of the folks who owns or runs that store who said he doesn’t believe 450,000 Americans have died of coronavirus. At the end of the day, we need everybody on board to beat this virus. What do you tell them?”

Psaki doubled down on the strategy of more “non-political” communication.

“We try to fight the misinformation with facts, Peter,” Psaki said. “And fight it with health and medical experts, including at a national level, at a local level, to convey to people that wearing a mask is something that not only can save the lives of their neighbors, but of their family members.”

Watch above, via CNN.

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