Coronavirus US: Woman ‘coughed’ on baby boy’s face in San Jose | Video

The baby’s mother said the woman overheard her speaking in Spanish and was upset about social distancing before the alleged attack.

Police have released video of a woman accused of coughing multiple times on a baby boy at a frozen yoghurt shop in California.

The woman was allegedly “upset” the one-year-old’s mother wasn’t maintaining proper social distancing.

The alleged assault occurred at Yogurtland in San Jose on the afternoon of Friday, June 12.

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Mireya Mora and her son. Picture: ABC7 News

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Social or physical distancing in the US is staying at least six feet (1.8 metres) from others, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

“The preliminary investigation revealed the suspect was upset the female was not maintaining proper social distancing, so the suspect removed her face mask, got close to the baby’s face, and coughed two to three times,” the San Jose Police Department said in a statement.

The adult female suspect standing over Ms Mora’s pram. Picture: San Jose Police Department

The baby’s mother, Mireya Mora, said the woman was angry she was standing too close in the queue with her pram before the alleged “attack”.

“Coughing on someone’s face. She did it on purpose, it’s not that she did it ‘oh cough, cough’ on accident, no, she purposely coughed on my son’s face,” she told ABC7 News on Sunday.

“It happened so quick and I was in shock.

“She got close, she took off her mask really fast and she coughed on my son’s face.”

Ms Mora pulled the pram cover over her son. Picture: San Jose Police Department

Ms Mora, who is Hispanic, claimed she started being “harassed” by the woman and scolded for her distance in the line after she was overhead speaking in Spanish to her grandmother.

“I believe this woman might be racist because the family in front of her was white,” she said.

Mireya Mora and her son. Picture: ABC7 News

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Ms Mora said she “can’t even imagine” what it would be like if her son contracted COVID-19 as a result.

On Facebook, she shared CCTV from the store, captioned: “This woman needs to pay for what she did to a baby! MY BABY!!”

“She can do this again to anyone’s baby, help me find this woman.”

Police on Monday said the suspect left the scene and was yet to be identified or apprehended.

The woman accused of the assault is described as a white female in her 50s, thin build, wearing a long-sleeved shirt with colourful vertical lines and white dress pants.