Is it terrorism to cough on someone if you have coronavirus? Feds, activists disagree
Intentionally spreading the coronavirus could be considered an act of terrorism, federal officials have said.
Amid increasing reports of people trying to purposely expose others to COVID-19 while mocking the pandemic, Politico reports a top official with the U.S. Department of Justice sent a memo saying coronavirus qualifies as a “biological agent” under national terrorism-related statutes.
“Threats or attempts to use COVID-19 as a weapon against Americans will not be tolerated,” Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said in the memo, according to NBC.
But the American Civil Liberties Union — a nonprofit focused on preserving Constitutional rights — has called the decision counterproductive.
Hina Shamsi, the director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, said terrorism charges send a harmful message during a global health pandemic.
“Rather than heeding public health experts’ advice to promote public trust in science and reduce prison populations, the Justice Department is threatening to use vague, overbroad, and flawed coercive powers that will make people more afraid to seek care,” Shamsi said in a statement.
There have been several reports of people coughing on others or licking items in public as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise.
New Jersey prosecutors charged a man with harassment and making terroristic threats after he coughed on an employee in Wegmans, NBC reported.
George Falcone, 50, was asked to step back from a worker standing in the prepared food section when he reportedly “stepped closer to her, leaned in and coughed,” according to NBC. He then claimed to have the coronavirus while laughing and told the employees they were lucky to have a job.
In Pennsylvania, 57-year-old Daniel Tabussi is accused of deliberately making coughing sounds while smiling and laughing near an older man wearing a face mask and gloves, CBS News reported. He then told the man he had the coronavirus.
Tabussi was charged with terroristic threats, simple assault, disorderly conduct and harassment, according to CBS.
A 26-year-old in Missouri also faces terrorism charges “after he filmed himself licking a bunch of items at Walmart,” the Riverfront Times reported.
In a video posted on social media, Cody Pfister reportedly asked, “Who’s afraid of the coronavirus?”
A woman in Wisconsin is accused of doing something similar, Newsweek reported. The 53-year-old, who is not named, reportedly licked a freezer handle in a grocery store while “protesting” the coronavirus, according to Newsweek.
The woman was not charged but faces a “no trespassing” order at the store.
