OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Less than 24 hours after the Omaha City Council voted to extend the city’s mask mandate until February, two anti-mask billboards were spotted in Omaha near the corner of 132nd and Millard Ave., and at 144th and Industrial Rd.
Many snapped photos of the signs which stated “It's not about a virus. It's about control.”
Some on social media encouraged others to call Link Media Outdoors, the company which owns the billboard, to demand the signs be taken down. And almost as quickly as the social media posts went up, the company which approved the signs took them down.
3 News Now reached out to the corporate office for further comment, but was only able to get confirmation from the local office that the signs had been taken down.
The billboard appears to have been funded by a group which calls themselves No Mask Omaha. Their founder posted about the billboard a few days ago on the Parler app, asking for input from followers.
3 News Now has reached out to the group for comment, but has not been able to make contact with them.
These billboards made their appearance as Douglas County reached a positivity rate of 29.2% last week and hospitals are at 86% occupancy.
Physicians at Nebraska Medicine who have been urging the community to take the virus more seriously for months said this: “In light of the current surge in COVID cases and hospitalizations that are overwhelming health care resources, we find this statement not only blatantly false, but also irresponsible and dangerous.“
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