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HONOLULU: A couple was arrested at a Hawaii airport after traveling from the US mainland despite knowing they were infected with COVID-19, authorities said.
Wesley Moribe, 41, and Courtney Peterson, 46, boarded a United Airlines flight to Lihue with a four-year-old boy after testing positive for coronavirus while returning home from international travel and transiting between Seattle, San Francisco and Hawaii, the Kauai. Said the Police Department.
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The couple underwent a COVID-19 test in Seattle after returning from abroad, police said, and later received their positive results while flying between Seattle and San Francisco.
“The Seattle test came back positive, but the couple was already on their way to San Francisco,” a Kauai police spokeswoman said in an email to the Associated Press.
“Officials notified the two positive test results and ordered them to isolate themselves.”
But the two, who had a stopover in San Francisco, decided to continue to Hawaii for the weekend.
According to police, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notified local authorities and, upon arrival in Lihue, Moribe and Peterson were greeted by officials from the Kauai Department of Health and police.
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They were taken to a designated isolation room where they were arrested on suspicion of reckless endangerment in the second degree.
Doug Yakel, a spokesman for the San Francisco International Airport, said officials at the airport’s quarantine station had no contact with the couple and tests were not done there.
Perry Cooper, a spokesman for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, said the airport has a provider, Discovery Health MD, that rents space at the airport for testing and that the company works with local public health and CDC for testing processes. test. The airport was not involved, he said.
Calls to the CDC and Discovery Health MD were not immediately returned.
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United said in a statement that all passengers must complete a checklist confirming that they have not tested positive for COVID-19 within 14 days of flying. Moribe and Peterson have been banned from traveling with United Airlines, according to the statement.
Moribe and Peterson, residents of Wailua on the island of Kauai, were released after posting bail of $ 1,000 each.
The child was released into the care of a family member and the Child Protective Services division of the state Department of Human Services was notified.
“They knowingly boarded a flight aware of the positive results of the COVID-19 test, which put the passengers on the flight in mortal danger,” Kauai police said.
Peterson did not immediately respond to voicemail messages on Thursday (December 3) seeking comment. A phone number associated with Moribe had been disconnected.
Democratic Gov. David Ige last week approved Kauai’s Mayor Derek Kawakami’s request to temporarily allow the island to be excluded from the state’s pre-travel testing program after a spike in travel-related infections on the island. . Starting Wednesday, all travelers to Kauai must spend 14 days in quarantine regardless of whether they get a negative COVID-19 test.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that go away in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more serious illnesses, including pneumonia and death.
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