Woman Faces Taunts For Wearing Heavy Duty Mask In Colorado Grocery Store

SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- "I look like a bug!!" Lisa Fine has no issue poking fun at herself, but she says she's a bit frustrated with the long stares and rude mumbling she's getting at places like City Market and Whole Foods up in Summit County.

"I'm trying to protect my family, my husband and others," Fine explained. "I'm just trying to get by, I'm just a 58-year-old woman trying to shop here."

While mask mandates have all but evaporated in the summer heat, Fine has seen the recent rise in COVID-19 cases and feels like wearing a mask is the right choice for right now. She doesn't want to make the choice for other people, but she wishes others would extend the same courtesy to her.

She prefers her heavy-duty P100 mask to a simple cloth mask which is drawing a lot of attention. She says she gets comments intended to upset her pretty often.

"He told his kids 'stay away from the lady in the gas mask!' and I was going to say something not nice and then I saw he had two young kids," Fine said.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has noticed the uptick in cases nationwide, but is tracking a slight fall from the East Coast and is hoping Colorado will follow suit. In the meantime, Fine said it's an easy decision for her, she just is asking for some grace from others.

"It's not hurting them," Fine said.