Burger King investigating anti-mask and anti-vaccine mandate sign at store in Michigan

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Burger King’s head office is looking into how a sign appeared on a billboard outside one of its Michigan restaurants which read: “Honk if you are against forced mask & forced jab”.

The anti-vaxx sign, which appeared on Thursday in front of the franchise in Jackson, was greeted with supportive honks by passing motorists before being removed the next day, Michigan Live reported.

“We’ve been in communication with the franchisee who is further investigating this incident,” a company spokesperson told the news site.

“Protecting the health and safety of team members and guests has been our top priority since the beginning of the pandemic.”

Jackson County has recorded substantial levels of community transmission between 30 July and 5 August, on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s county tracker site.

Burger King requires staff to wear masks in restaurants where there is substantial or high transmission, regardless of whether they’ve been vaccinated.

However, Michigan Live said only around half  of the Burger King restaurant’s staff members were wearing masks on Thursday.

Michigan has recorded a total of 903,000 cases of Covid-19 and nearly 20,000 deaths as of Friday.

According to a Covid-19 Community Vulnerability Index, the state is at high risk of being able to adequately respond to an outbreak.

The number of new daily Covid-19 infections surpassed 100,000 across the United States on Thursday.