A man and woman have been arrested after boarding a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Kauai knowing they had just tested positive for COVID-19.
Couple Arrested After Flying To Hawaii Knowing They Were COVID Positive
The couple, who live in Wailua, Kauai, took a COVID-19 test at SFO airport ahead of their United Airlines flight home. Despite receiving a positive result and being advised to cancel their flight and quarantine, the two opted to board their flight to Lihue, UA1111, on Sunday, November 29, 2020. They were traveling with a young child.
Upon arrival in Hawaii, they were arrested, charged with reckless endangerment, and accused of placing other passengers and crew onboard in “danger of death.” They have since been released on bail ($1,000 each) and are awaiting an arraignment hearing.
KHON2 reports that the couple is Hawaiian.
How Did They Board In The First Place?
I am curious how the couple boarded in the first place. A negative COVID-19 is not necessary to fly to Hawaii, only to avoid a 14-day quarantine.
I suspect the couple took a COVID-19 test prior to departure, planning to avoid quarantine, but decided to fly anyway (by not presenting a test) when the results came back positive. Perhaps what they did not realize is that test results are reported to the Hawaiian authorities. That would explain why they were permitted to board but then arrested upon arrival.
A United spokesperson offered the following statement on the incident:
The health and safety of our employees and customers is our highest priority, which is why we have various policies and procedures in place as part of a multi-layered approach to create a safer travel environment. Prior to traveling, all United customers are required to complete a ‘Ready to Fly’ checklist acknowledging they have not been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the last 14 days. We are investigating this matter further to assess these passengers’ ability to fly on United in the future.
The Practical And Legal Consequences
Flyertalk user Weatherboy, a Hawaiian resident, noted:
“Many other passengers on UA1111 now have to quarantine at their expense and aren’t permitted to fly off Kauai for 14 days. If I was one of them, I’d probably sue the infected couple for damages for ruining my vacation.”
So would I…
CONCLUSION
Such selfish and reckless endangerment of others and lack of respect for human life must be condemned in the strongest terms possible. If you find you are COVID-19 positive and decide to board a flight anyway, you are a reprobate human being that deserves not only a fine or jail time, but social ostracization. I trust that no one else develops the virus on account of the horrific selfishness of the couple who could only think about themselves.
image: Shutterstock // This article was updated with a statement from United Airlines
But I thought you can’t get it from airplanes?
Yes, they were probably far safer onboard than in the airport. But that doesn’t excuse such unacceptable behavior.
Ha. Ha paid a 1k fine. No big deal if you are rich enough…frankly 1k is pocket change to many. Let’s see if they jail them. Better if fellow passengers sue United and the couple!
So, they were supposed to quarantine. Where? Under a bridge? Is the hotel obligated to take them in? Or does the hotel have a right to protect it’s staff and guests? Or should the family just lie to the hotel and hope nobody gets suspicious when they stay locked up in the room for 14 days? My family and I were trying to figure this out and could not and hence decided not to fly this past summer. All we could find out: you are positive and/or sick and not home but neither the airline nor a hotels wants you. So what do you do?
It’s a fair question.
This couple is NOT HAWAIIAN! BECAUSE YOU LIVE IN HAWAII, DOESN’T MAKE YOU HAWAIIAN. Their mug shots are in our local papers and on our local news channels, they are not Hawaiian, they are she is Caucasian and he is an Asian mix! Just to be honest about this article.
That’s fine, but the Kona news media initially identified them as Hawaiian, which I took to mean native Hawaiian, not Hawaiian resident. Because that is how people like you have told me to use and associate the term and I figured the Kona news media would get it right…
I guess I’m not American. That pesky Swiss and English blood I carry. Will I ever have a home?
I thought planes were safe to fly, that is the lie that has been put out there. For all you know there were dozen presymptomatic people on the flight who would be very contagious the 2 days before symptoms. If planes are safe then what does it matter if they had covid? If they had not got a test they would have also been on that flight. Either planes are safe to fly or they are not. The answer is they are not.
Planes are safer, but airports, not so much.
On the Disney forums, many insist that theme parks are safe. On the travel forums, many insist that traveling is safe. On the fitness forums, many insist that gyms are safe. On the political forums, many insist that rallies or protests are safe. On this forum, many insist that airplanes are safe.
They are not. All of these willfully myopic opinions are why we are about to have the most tragic winter of our nation’s history, with deaths reaching 4,000+ per DAY. Our nation needs to assess why we have failed so badly and how we have each contributed to this utter failure.
Do us all a favor. Stay off planes unless it’s absolutely critical, like a dying family member.
@JS I agree to a point, but I think you are missing something. GENERALLY if you don’t have COVID an airplane is safe for you. And might even be more safe than activities many of us have started doing again like going inside the grocery store. If you are sitting directly next to the person that certainly that’s not going to be great. There are also lots of ways to get sick while in the airport.
I think the bigger reason people shouldn’t be flying is because it propagates the virus to more places and keeps it moving and allowing any mutations to spread.
Being on the airplane with someone else who has it probably doesn’t infect anyone.
Throw the book at them. They should enjoy a “quarantine” in jail for a few years. After that (and after paying large fines plus paying for all the others who had to quarantine) then maybe they will be safe enough to let out.
Maybe.
Unfortunately they only received a $1,000 bond, which I found despicable because a couple from the mainland who didn’t Quarantine received a $14,000 bond. I find this action more atrocious because they KNEW!
Ah these must have been some of those “entitled mainlanders” all the isolationist Hawaiians have been complaining about on previous threads… oh wait.
If they are white let them go. It’s probably mental illness.
If they are not, just choke them to death. But please do it away from cameras and children. We are a civilized nation. Not a shithole country.
By the way all you trump supporters, trump’s lawyer has asked for violence against the election officials in georgia because they wouldn’t throw the election to trump. Again we are not a shithole country so please do it away from cameras.
Oh and all you white Republican scum, dont forget to condemn BLM.
Sorry this was very tangential. Everytime i see covid i think trump.
Trump is covid. Covid is trump. See?
There are 1440 minutes in a day. According to nytimes yesterday there were 2600 deaths due to covid. Pretty astounding in the lone superpower in the world.
Interesting story but you shouldn’t jump to condemn the couple without knowing all the facts. For example, some people will continue to test positive for COVID for several weeks or even months – long beyond the point where they are considered infectious.
I will update this story if additional facts emerge, but they would not have been arrested had it simply been the case of a positive test arriving while they were in-flight.
Because we all know how nothing but the truth is reported – whether it be the report you got your information from or the one reporting the story.
I wish the world would get back to reporting things that REALLY matter instead of nosing around everyone’s personal business.
You’ll have to elaborate, because I don’t understand your point.
This was indeed horrible and they have to be punished. However, overall people need to get their heads out of their a…s and be a bit more practical with this. The virus won’t go anywhere so we better live with it. First, I assume these guys were wearing a mask. Thus, unless someone really got in contact with them the chances they got infected is very low. My son goes to school everyday. His classmate that seats next to him tested positive to Covid. The entire class got quarantined and tested and NOBODY was infected. Again, the kid seats next to my son everyday. Second, CDC just announced that 14 days of quarantine is no longer necessary. They decreased to 7 to 10 days and if you get tested negative you are free to go. I have a family of friends (father, mother, 4 kids and a babysitter) that all live together. Parents and two kids tested positive and nobody else did. They do not wear masks inside their home, kids share everything so while this virus is out there and it is bad it doesn’t mean everyone on a plane will get infected and needs to quarantine. For example, let’s assume this couple was sitting in the front. What is the chance a person sitting on the back of the plane got infected? I think Hawaii is overthinking this and it is damaging their economy. Last, as @James said above, there were probably many people on that flight that were infected by asymptomatic. Hawaii has become the example of politicians that have no clue about anything and take draconian measures to instill panic. If they offered me a trip there for free I would not take it.
Anecdotal evidence is pointless, there are just as many stories of schools and families where multiple people got the virus via one person.
Nice try, though.
Oh ofc ourse, lets ignore the devastation wreaked on the islands by the white man carrying communicable diseases there.
Ps. Anecdotes arent data. If they were you wouldnt be using a cellphone or a PC today
What school does your kid go to? Yikes! Our draconian measures has kept our numbers low unlike the mainland. There will be covidiots everywhere. What everyone wants to know is why weren’t these COVIDiots plane tickets ripped up and why weren’t they escorted to a quarantined lodging in SF instead of being allowed on the plane in SFO?!
If everybody on the plane was wearing their magic 2 cent masks that come from China, then there wouldn’t be any risk to any one else… so why did they lock the people up… to waste more taxpayer dollars over the cooties nonsense?
Sadly thats not how it works, yet your simplistic mind cant look beyond that
Are you kidding? These people were trying to get home. Give them a break. If they were tourists, I would have more of a problem. Are they supposed to pay for a hotel in San Francisco at their own expense until it is safe to fly?
“Reckless endangerment” -> what a crock. This will get thrown out in the courts.
“sue for damages” -> typical lawyer b*llsh*t; what an entitled group of individuals.
Regardless of whether they were tourists or not, they consciously made a selfish decision that put others’ lives at risk. I’m aware that they wanted to get home, but being an adult means that sometimes you make a decision, not because it’s what you WANT to do, but because it’s the RIGHT THING to do. So yes, they should have quarantined in SF at their own expense (whose else should pay it???)
“Are they supposed to pay for a hotel in San Francisco at their own expense until it is safe to fly?”
Yes.
2% danger of death. Wow serious crime
Oh yeah, tell that to the overworked healthcare workers who are at the end of their tether thanks to nitwits like yourself who claim that the disease is harmless. Nice to see Republicans are now eugenicists
Another perfect example of why a vaccination certificate should be require to travel anywhere after this spring. People are idiots.
Guaranteed Trump Voters living their best entitled lives. ‘Murica!
Hawaii?? Trump voters?? Don’t make me laugh. Any state that votes in a dimwit like Mazie Hirono should take a hard look at themselves.
Please let’s give Hawaii it’s independence already!!!!
Well, we did steal their country.
White folx were just undocumented immigrants to Hawaii.
Were they even wearing a mask? If not, then make the penalty harder than originally planned
Debit your still an evil covid IDIOT Liberal…..