Bryan Crigger weathered a few verbal insults on Sunday for wearing a protective face mask while shopping at H-E-B.

But the Bastrop resident, who escaped China just before a lock-down over the novel coronavirus, said he would rather err on the side of caution when it comes to the respiratory disease.

"While I was walking past (a man) in H-E-B, he made eye contact and called me a ‘dumb ass,’" Crigger said. "Other people were staring at me and a few made derogatory comments. I could understand that."

Crigger appeared to be the only person in the store – shortly after he stood in line outside the grocery store with dozens of others awaiting an 8 a.m. opening – who was wearing a protective mask. He acknowledged it is a substantial mask – manufactured in China – that draws attention.

Crigger said he did not feel threatened by the insults. "It made me more nervous for the state of affairs in Bastrop" concerning the novel coronavirus, Crigger said. "If that’s the consensus of people here, then we might have a bigger issue with the (potential) spread of this virus."

As of Monday, there had been no known reports of coronavirus in Bastrop County. Travis County had reported 10 presumptive positive COVID-19 cases as of Monday, and Hays County had reported three cases.

On Monday, Bastrop County issued a disaster declaration due to the coronavirus pandemic, and also temporarily banned events and gatherings of 50 people or more.

'Things continued to escalate’

The Criggers had lived in China for five years when they decided in late January to leave the country. His wife was a teacher and he was a stay-at-home father with their daughter.

"It wasn’t so much the concern for coronavirus – though that played a part – but our concern over a quarantine that could occur at any moment," Crigger said. "We could have been told not to leave our home."

After moving to China, Crigger’s wife taught in the city of Guangzhou in southern China, and then in Chengdu. He said in Chengdu "there was only one province between us and the province of Hubei," where the novel coronavirus outbreak initially occurred in the city of Wuhan.

"When the outbreak first happened, I didn’t think much of it. The local government kind of played it down," Crigger said. "But things continued to escalate. We took it on ourselves to quarantine, before the Chinese government required it. Not too long after we quarantined, someone in our neighborhood had contracted coronavirus and was removed to a hospital."

That was toward the end of January. The Criggers wanted out and flew to Thailand on Feb. 5. The family tested negative for coronavirus within a few days of their arrival. They remained in Thailand a month, deciding to self-quarantine once again before catching a return flight to the U.S. through San Francisco.

Crigger’s family arrived in Bastrop on March 5. Crigger, 29, had previously lived there with his parents and wanted to return to the Bastrop area.

"We talked to immigration officials when we entered the U.S. Since we quarantined in Thailand for a month and the tests came back negative there, Immigration felt pretty secure that we were fine," Crigger said. His family has experienced no symptoms associated with the coronavirus since then, Crigger added.

"We really need to take this coronavirus seriously and it really does start with the individual," Crigger said. "If we are mindful who we are around and what we are doing – then we’ll be safe, we’ll be OK.

"If we don’t do that, then this virus will wreak havoc not only on Bastrop, but on this entire nation. It was a wake-up call in China, a tragedy. We don’t want the people of Bastrop to have to deal with that, because it’s not a good feeling – it was really scary in China."