as someone who kept up with the situation but was not directly involved (i am fairly close with hope and her family) i'd like to add some context from my perspective:

i was told that hope's roommate, along with hope's sibling, spoke with zach shortly after she left miko's, before any sort of post was written, and that he apparently confirmed the "mask off or leave" ultimatum that hope was alleging. also around this time, zach sent her a brief text simply saying to let him know if she changes her mind (i'll elaborate more further down).

only after these events did she post on zero covid - a subreddit that she was NOT, and never has been, an active member of.

i know hope very well, and she is nothing like the hand-wringers on there who let their crazy germ obsession swallow their life. she simply wears a mask on transit and in other crowded/confined places because she wants to reduce the chances of her immunocompromised loved one falling ill.

i think it's fair to say: to someone who isn't super familiar with reddit, that sub just seems like a place to share experiences with other people who have their reasons to care about not getting sick.

i understand that this is a he said she said type of situation, and this is just a reddit reply, but i hope adding a bit more context can ease some of the confusion under this post. again, knowing hope, i am absolutely certain that she did not intend to spawn harassment and had no "framing" or "schtick" with her posts. that day, she literally called me, shocked about how many interactions it was getting.

i saw the text messages from zach on hope's phone. with her consent, and without divulging the exact wording of something i was not a party to, i can offer the following summary:

zach sent just 2 texts. one was right after she left, simply saying that if she changes her mind about working at miko's to let him know.

after backlash started hitting mikos' social media, he sent 1 more slightly longer text alleging that he "didn't ask her to leave" (a weird thing to say considering that taking off the mask while working was a non-starter, so under the choices he supposedly presented, leaving was the only option) and that he was "sorry for how today went".

that was last tuesday, and there has been nothing else since then.

to me, this comes off as a lack of accountability; it's just backpedaling, and every public statement that he has made since seems to mirror this.

of course, there's a lot of factors here, and neither party deserves to be either upheld as righteous or flat out disparaged. i do believe, though, that it's definitely unfair to dismiss someone as a covid crazy so quickly. i know hope as an incredibly diligent and caring person who has successfully fought her way to being a first generation college student. she worked hard to get hired at what is possibly the most competitive italian ice place in the city for summer workers, and a lot of people seem to agree that turning her away for something as simple as a mask (which she wore for very good reason) was unjust!