Another group of anti-maskers staged a protest at the Westfield mall in Century City Sunday, described by supporters as “freedom lovers,” in videos that have gone viral across social media.
Protesters falsely believe that COVID-19 cannot be transmitted if you’re asymptomatic, and masks are useless in protecting people the virus.
"All about control, this has nothing to do with a deadly virus... because a mask does not protect you from a deadly virus," Shiva Bagheri told Newsweek.
The group stormed several stories, while singing and dancing to the Village People’s hit “YMCA,” but changing the lyrics to “MAGA,” and confronting and even getting violent with several shoppers.
Several people were detained by Los Angeles Police Department officers.
Los Angeles County has reported 12,488 new cases of COVID-19 and 91 additional deaths, but also a slight decrease in the number of coronavirus patients in county hospitals.
A total of 7,544 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized with the virus Sunday, with 21% in intensive care, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. That's a decrease from the 7,627 patients reported on Saturday.
The county's totals for the entire pandemic are now 818,639 cases and 10,773 fatalities.
The case load has doubled in the past month.
City News Service contributed to this story.