That's expensive: Supermarket trashes products worth $35,000 after woman coughs

A supermarket in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania threw away products with a market value of $35,000 after a woman known by police as “a chronic problem in the community” purposely coughed all over the food.

The owner of the market threw all the contaminated merchandise away out of fear that she could be infected with the coronavirus and would cause it to spread in the community.

The video shared on social media by Joe Fasula, a partner of a market chain in the town of Hanover, featured images of the female customer deliberately coughing on food products.

The woman was removed from the store by employees and arrested by the police.

Hanover Police Chief Albert Walker stated that they are planning to file a criminal complaint against the woman since she is clearly demonstrating purposeful deviance.

Although they didn’t believe that the woman has COVID-19, as a precautionary measure, employees got rid of everything she coughed on. Almost 15 employees cleaned and disinfected all the areas she visited.

Market owner Fasula stated that the woman should be tested for COVID-19.

The U.S. Department of Justice stated on Wednesday that people who intentionally spread the coronavirus could be accused of terrorism.

An individual who purposely coughed in the face of a market employee in New Jersey at the beginning of the week was accused of creating a "terrorist threat.”

Recently, media reports said that a man was arrested and charged with making a second-degree terrorist threat in the state of Missouri after he contaminated Walmart merchandise.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the coronavirus appears to meet the statutory definition of a "biological agent" and “threats or attempts to use COVID-19 as a weapon against Americans” will be implicated as “terrorism-related.”