MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle began crying on air over a deaf grocery clerk’s struggle to communicate with customers wearing protective masks because of the coronavirus.
On Tuesday, Ruhle broke down in tears during her segment “American Heroes,” which included a report on deaf Trader Joe’s employee Matthew Simmons, who also works as a teacher in Vancouver, Washington.
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“Matthew is deaf himself, and he reads lips. So the new norm of masks has made helping customers really hard for him, until he and his colleagues came up with a creative solution, thinking outside the box: a shirt that says, ‘I’m deaf’ and ‘Tap on shoulder,’ as well as whiteboards for people to write their questions,” the host began the segment.
“The first customer to use the board delivering this message: It must be hard with everyone wearing masks!” she continued, struggling through tears to finish the segment. Ruhle ended by thanking Simmons and other essential workers in the United States.
More than 3 million people have tested positive for the coronavirus globally. Of those, more than 212,000 have died from it, and more than 906,000 have recovered.
The U.S. has seen at least 989,000 confirmed cases, with more than 56,300 deaths and nearly 111,000 reported recoveries. More than 5,593,495 people have been tested for the virus, according to the latest reading of the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
