‘Mind-Blowing’: Tennessee Doctor Tells CNN How He Was ‘Very Scared’ By Threats Over Mask Mandates

 

A Tennessee doctor spoke to CNN about the angry reactions he and his cohorts received for encouraging their local school district to adopt a mask mandate.

Dr. Britt Maxwell was among the pro-mask speakers who appeared before the Williamson County School Board this week before they voted to implement a mask requirement at their local facilities. This school board meeting drew major protests from anti-mask parents in the area, and it ended with some of them going on angry, threatening tirades to the pro-mask medical officials who were trying to leave the building.

As Maxwell spoke to John Berman on Thursday about his experience, the CNN anchor began by clarifying that Maxwell left the school board meeting before the confrontations reached their peak “because you were afraid of the direction things were going in.” Asked for his reaction to the videos CNN aired, Maxwell said the video was “shocking” as he explained that he left the meeting after the public speaking portion of it was over.

“The energy in that room was hot, and I knew that things were going to get a lot worse. My wife was there, she’s a medical professional too, so we decided we need to go during the recess,” he said. “Before we walked out, we had to brace ourselves. I took my wife’s arm and I said ‘Just remember, no matter what they say, these are the lives we’re trying to save.'”

Maxwell went on to recall that as he left, “someone put their hand in my face and called me a traitor, which…how anyone can say that when I’ve been on the front lines of this pandemic since the beginning, treating patients in rooms, unvaccinated for the vast majority of it, hoping I wouldn’t take it home to my family.”

Maxwell called that experience “mind-blowing,” then he added that he was show footage of the angriest confrontations the next morning.

“I was shaking,” he said. “I was very, very, very scared by that.”

The interview continued with Maxwell speaking about the difficulties of treating the coronavirus while dealing with the misinformation that has been accepted by several of his patients. When the interview concluded, Berman commended and thanked Maxwell for his efforts, and he denounced the threats from that day alongside Brianna Keilar.

Watch above, via CNN.

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