“I went shopping without a mask on & this is why,” Jennings wrote on Instagram. “I read a quote the other day that shook me – – THIS HAS NOT BEEN ENFORCED, IT’S BEEN CONSENTED TO.”
Jennings said that statement “woke me up,” and that she wanted to stand up for her rights and freedoms without being reckless or putting others in danger.
A representative for Jennings did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN.
The move goes against what’s recommended in preventing the spread of the coronavirus by numerous public health experts.
Jennings faced quick backlash, with one user responding to her post: “I’m a nurse and all healthcare workers are reusing PPE and we don’t have routine access to testing. We put ourselves at risk daily to care for patients the least that everyone else can do is social distance and wear a mask in public.”
Another user wrote, “This is incredibly selfish and ignorant.”
“To those who are open to hearing where I am coming from, I appreciate your openness and civility. To those in agreement, I appreciate you expressing your views. To those calling me dumb, selfish, privileged, bigoted, and racist and telling me that ‘you are better than this,’ I fully acknowledge that addressing such an emotional, layered, nuanced and polarizing topic on social media was not the smartest thing.”
CNN’s Wayne Sterling, Holly Yan and Sandee LaMotte contributed to this report.
