'Every single one of you has a smirk behind that little mask, but you're going to get punished by God': Palm Beach County residents slam face mask requirement as 'devil's law' since the covering will 'kill people' (11 Pics)

A local mandate requiring masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is a ‘Devil’s law’ that will ‘kill people’ and invite the wrath of God since it prevents one ‘breathing in oxygen,’ Palm Beach County residents said.

A wild public meeting was held on Tuesday in West Palm Beach, where county residents were invited to air their objections to a proposed law making face masks mandatory inside buildings and outdoors where it is impossible to socially distance.

The law eventually passed, angering some residents who shared their various conspiracy theories about a ‘communist dictatorship’ that is ‘brainwashing’ people about a ‘planned-demic.’

One woman in a red blouse vowed that ‘We the People’ will ‘work day and night’ to unseat the commissioners.

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One local resident of Palm Beach County told commissioners who approved a mandatory face mask law on Tuesday that they would face the wrath of God since 'the mask is killing people' and that wearing one would be 'obeying the devil's laws'

‘We will get together and do a citizen’s arrest on every single human being that goes against the freedom of choice, OK?’ she said.

‘You cannot mandate… knowing that the mask is killing people... We the [eople are waking up and we know what a citizen’s arrest is.

‘Because citizen’s arrests are already happening and every single one of you that’s obeying the devil’s laws are going to be arrested.

‘And you are going to be arrested for crimes against humanity.’

She then threatened to bring down the wrath of God on the commissioners.

‘Every single one of you has a smirk behind that little mask, but every single one of you are going to get punished by God,’ she said.

‘You cannot escape God. You cannot escape God. I’m going to say that again.

‘You cannot escape God.’

She then ticked off a series of conspiracy theories that have been circulating online, including one that claims 5G wireless technology causes the coronavirus.

‘Not even with a mask or 6 feet. OK, 6 feet is military protocol,’ she said.

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A man who identified himself as ‘American patriot’ Butch Dias said: ‘See that flag? I would die for that flag!'

‘You’re trying to get the people to train them so when the cameras, the 5G come out, when they’re going to scan everybody.

‘We got to get scanned, we got to get temperatured, the kids have to go to school with masks.’

She then said: ‘Are you insane? Are you crazy?

‘I think all of you should be in a psych ward right the heck now.

‘Because none of you, none of you know what the hell you are talking about. This is insane.

‘And then you want to open the meeting with a prayer to God.

‘Are you praying to the devil? Because God is not listening to that prayer.

‘Because all of you are practicing the devil’s love.’

She then invoked another conspiracy theory which holds that Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder and multibillionaire, engineered the pandemic so that he can implant a chip into people’s bodies when they are eventually vaccinated.

‘What happened to Bill Gates? Why is he not in jail? Why is Hillary Clinton not in jail?’ she said.

‘Why are all these pedophiles that are demanding you all to listen to their rules, why are they not in jail?

‘Oh, is it because you’re part of them?... The deep state is going down and if any of you are in the deep state, you’re going down with it.’

Another woman said the mask order interferes with human breathing.

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Another resident repeated a conspiracy theory about COVID-19, calling it a 'planned-demic'

‘I’d like to say, in the beginning God formed man out of the earth and breathed his breath in him and he became a living soul,’ she said.

‘Where do you derive the authority to regulate human breathing?’

She then questioned the credentials of Alina Alonso, the director of the Palm Beach County Department of Health.

'I have many questions about your degrees and what you really know, because what you say is the political dogma that they’re trying to shove down our throats on every commercial and every store, and it’s disgusting,' she told Alonso. 

'And I’m sorry, ma’am, but I don’t think you are worthy of your credentials and I would ask suggestively that you go back to school and get educated.'

According to the county, Alonso received a bachelor of science from Barry University in 1978, where she majored in biology and minored in chemistry and mathematics.

In 1984, she graduated from the foreign medical school of Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.

She then served as chief resident at St. Joseph Medical Center in New York.

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In total, 52 people testified at Tuesday's hearing in West Palm Beach, the overwhelming majority of whom were against the new law

Alonso then finished a second residency in public health and preventive medicine at the Palm Beach County Health Department.

When she was warned to keep her remarks focused on the issue at hand, the woman continued: ‘It is appalling that each and every one of you sitting up there as human beings, part of the human race, the only race that we have, would suggest to muffle people, to put masks on your face to keep us from breathing oxygen, to get us to become sickly.’

She then added: ‘There’s not enough [COVID-19] to make it a pandemic. This is a planned-demic.’

Another woman who identified herself as Reba Sherrill, a candidate for Congress, compared the mask rule to Jews who suffered under Nazi Germany.

‘If masks work for you, or if you think they do, wear one,’ she said.

‘Don’t impose your opinion on those who disagree. Each one can chose whether they will wear one or not.

‘Each one lives with the consequence.’

She then went on: ‘Discriminating against certain groups of people while exempting others is a violation of your civil rights.

‘Following World War II, we Jews said “Never Again.”… In Germany, Poland, and across Europe we were forced to wear a gold star, told to get on a box car to be taken to a safe place.

‘In reality, what happened? If we forget history, we are doomed to repeat it.’

She concluded by saying: ‘This is not about health, this is about submission.’

Another resident in a camouflage baseball cap said: ‘I want to know who is getting paid off and where is the mandate coming from.’

She then suggested that instead of trying to stop the virus, the county should stop protests and riots.

‘Well, guess what, the riots are spreading, too!’ she said.

‘And what the hell are we going to do about that? We’re going to arrest patriots for not wearing a mask?

‘That’s what you want?’

Another woman said: ‘I don’t wear a mask for the same reason I don’t wear underwear.

‘Things got to breathe.’

A man who identified himself as ‘American patriot’ Butch Dias said: ‘See that flag? I would die for that flag!

‘The Constitution that you are supposed to uphold, I would die for that!’

He continued: ‘You didn’t listen to We the People!’

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Residents called into question the credentials of Alina Alonso, the director of the Palm Beach County Department of Health

He then thanked the police officers present in the room, before saying: ‘But what’s going to happen when you get the call… “Oh, we got to defund the police, we got to get rid of them.”... Who’s going to arrest the people for [not] wearing stupid masks?...

‘What are you going to do? How are you going to put the people down?’

In total, 52 people testified during the hearing, the overwhelming majority of whom were opposed to masks.

By a unanimous 7-0 vote, the county commissioners approved the measure, which will allow exceptions for people to take off the mask only when eating in a restaurant or exercising in a gym.

Failure to comply won’t result in jail time, but people could pay a $250 fine for the first offense and a $500 fine for a second offense.

Businesses in Palm Beach County are also required to place signs that say ‘facial coverings required’ in English, Spanish, and Haitian-Creole.

Any employees of businesses that require interacting with the public must also wear masks, according to the Palm Beach Post.

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The vote on Tuesday expands the face mask requirement which had originally been limited to county-owned buildings and public buses.

The mandate, which goes into effect on Thursday, will apply to all 39 municipalities in Palm Beach County, which is the third-largest county by population in the state.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Palm Beach County has surged in recent weeks.

As of Thursday afternoon, there were a total of 11,536 positive test cases - 356 more compared to the previous day.

A total of 482 people in the county have died, according to Johns Hopkins University and Medicine, which monitors the disease case count.

In Florida, the case count has exceeded 109,000.

Florida was one of the first states to lift a three-month lockdown after record unemployment.

In Orlando, 152 coronavirus cases were linked to one bar near the University of Central Florida campus, said Dr. Raul Pino, a state health officer in the tourism city.

'A lot of transmission happened there,' Pino said. 'People are very close. People are not wearing masks. People are drinking, shouting, dancing, sweating, kissing and hugging, all the things that happen in bars. And all those things that happen are not good for COVID-19.'

Although he asked health officials to renew calls for people to wear masks and keep their distance, Gov. Ron DeSantis has not signaled he will retreat from reopening the state after three months of shutdowns that have damaged the economy.