JetBlue passenger on flight from JFK arrives in Palm Beach as positive coronavirus case: officials

[brooklynite]

Source: WPIX-TV

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A passenger aboard a JetBlue flight from New York's Kennedy Airport arrived at Palm Beach International Airport as a positive coronavirus case, Palm Beach Fire Rescue said early Thursday morning.

Flight 253 landed at 8:53 p.m. from JFK, but the plane remained on the tarmac instead of proceeding to gate C12. Passengers departed the aircraft around 10:45 p.m., according to PIX11 sister station WPTV.

"The person across the way from me was taken to the back of the plane. He was wearing masks and gloves. His wife was sitting in the same row as me and mentioned to others that he wasn't feeling well. She said he had gotten a phone call with his test results right before we had taken off, implying that he had a positive test but not actually saying it," passenger Scott Rodman told WPTV.

Read more: https://www.pix11.com/news/coronavirus/jetblue-passenger-on-flight-from-jfk-arrives-in-palm-beach-as-positive-coronavirus-case

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"he had gotten a phone call with his test results right before we had taken off"

[LisaL]

1. Parties, dances and plane rides.

If people behave like that, how are we possibly going to contain the disease?

[dewsgirl]

4. I think containment is no longer possible, slowing the spread

should be the strategy..but they aren't even doing that.

[Delphinus]

26. I am trying

so hard at my place of employment to share the meme: Flatten the Curve. (smh)

[dewsgirl]

30. I think many don't understand and with the media pressing

only the elderly are at risk, only a bad flu, they won't until it's to late. This virus leaves scarring in your lungs and can damage other organs, facts that the media avoid at all costs.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Why would you get on a plane if you had symptoms

that led you to get tested and you were still waiting for the test results? WTF?

[LisaL]

3. I doubt his doctor told him to go ahead and fly either.

[Renew Deal]

7. He probably wanted to go home

And not in a rental car.

[Scarsdale]

8. Exactly.

If it was implied that he had the virus, why leave NY? Stay home, get treatment there. Who wants to travel when they are sick? If he was gong to Mar-A-Lardo I would understand, since they do not have any consideration for normal people. Wait, he would likely be flying on a private jet if he could afford to stay THERE.

[Baclava]

5. Just think, millions of spring breakers will be bringing this back home, mom

[HarlanPepper]

32. That and every kind of STD imaginable

[Baclava]

37. We got pills for that

[dewsgirl]

6. They really need to start pressing charges against these people.

I believe Italy and South Korea are doing this.

[LisaL]

9. I think there have to be formal orders for quarantine, and these people have to break the quarantine

after the formal orders have been issued, for charges to be possible.

[jberryhill]

10. Charges of what?

[dewsgirl]

11. In South Korea, I believe they are arrested. They aren't

messing around. I think I may have been thinking of breaking quarantine.

[jberryhill]

14. In the US, there needs to be probable cause to believe you have committed a crime

Plus, we write the crimes down, number them, and give them names.

Surprisingly, there is no way to arrest people in the US for "doing stuff we don't like" unless that particular stuff is among the crimes that we have written down, assigned a number, and given a name.

[Dennis Donovan]

39. Things will change within 14 days. I sure hope they don't, but shit will get real here soon

At some point, it will become necessary to enforce a mandatory lockdown.

[gldstwmn]

42. In 14 days this country is going to be

on its ass. On the bright side I do think this will be the end of the Trump presidency.

[mjvpi]

40. You can be charged for knowingly giving someone AIDS.

Seems to apply

[jberryhill]

43. No, it does not apply

Here is a summary of the two most relevant Florida laws, and the acts which are illegal under those laws:

Fla. Stat. Ann. § 384.24(1)

Sexual intercourse without disclosure of an STD3 (not HIV) when the person knows they have it and has been informed that it is communicable through sexual intercourse

Fla. Stat. Ann. § 384.24(2)

Sexual intercourse without disclosure of HIV when the person knows they have it and has been informed that it is communicable through sexual intercourse

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Which of those applies to what happened here?

[Dennis Donovan]

38. In Italy, people are being fined 50 Lira for being out during the lockdown

...that's $7 here.

[Maggiemayhem]

15. He knew he was positive before he boarded. I don't know what an arrest will will do but

He possibly infected an entire plane of passengers and staff.

[Maggiemayhem]

17. Keep in mind it takes 5-10 days to get a result

There is no rapid test.

[jberryhill]

20. You have to do something illegal to get arrested

I guess I wasn't clear.

Yes, I understand what he did.

What I marvel at, on an allegedly Democratic forum no less, is the pervasive idea that people can just be "arrested" for "whatever".

I'm pretty familiar with a whole lot of laws, but always willing to learn something new. I'd like to know which one he would be arrested for violating.

"Getting on a plane while sick" is actually not a crime. He can't be arrested for that.

[EllieBC]

24. +1000

We can’t devolve into a crazed mob with lawyers on speed dial who are out to hang the first person who coughs.

[DonCoquixote]

27. if he KNEW he had the virus

that was at the very least, reckless endangerment, which IS a crime.

[jberryhill]

28. He didn't know he had the virus

1. He got his test result after boarding.

2. The plane proceeded to Florida.

Now, did he commit a crime in Florida? If so, what crime?

Or are you saying that New York should issue an arrest warrant and proceed to extradite him to New York for committing a misdemeanor there?

How do you propose to take him back to New York for this important misdemeanor charge?

[TwilightZone]

33. You don't think they would have taken him off the plane if they'd known about the diagnosis?

I'd have to disagree. If the plane hadn't yet taken off, it would have returned to the gate and he would have been removed.

It was irresponsible not to inform anyone. He put a lot of other people at risk.

"He didn't know he had the virus"

That's clearly false. He knew he had the virus before the plane departed.

[jberryhill]

34. Oh, yeah, stop a plane that is taxiing

That will have a happy ending.

He did not have an affirmative duty to somehow try to stop a plane he already boarded.

He should have just gotten up and gone over to a strapped-in FA and told her calmly, "We need to go back to the terminal right now."

Well, yah, that will definitely get anyone arrested.

[BigmanPigman]

12. Selfish and irresponsible asses are going to infect millions.

That action is criminal! There needs to be public shaming until this gets into their dense heads! It is not only about them anymore, it is about others.

[PJMcK]

31. As noted above, what crime was committed?

In America, we actually have laws, although with Trump, you wouldn't know it.

Seriously, what was the criminal act?

[mjvpi]

41. There are laws for knowingly exposing someone to AIDS, I believe.

[FM123]

13. Palm Beach county residents need to get ready.

My county (Broward) is right in the middle between Palm Beach and Dade (Miami) and our numbers just went up to 7. It was just a few days ago that we were the only county here in South Florida with the virus, now it is spreading above and below.

[Maggiemayhem]

16. Wait until it hits The Villages

[FM123]

25. Yep, what a scary thought - it would spread like wildfire up there....

[rzemanfl]

29. A bunch of Repuke assholes getting sick is scary?

I would call it karma.

[hatrack]

18. It's OK - he wasn't coming from Europe

Remain calm! All is well!

[Yonnie3]

19. The test was perfect, too. n/t

[Sancho]

21. Maybe he should wear a sign "I'm a Moran"?

[Dennis Donovan]

22. "They were allowed to leave the airport without seeing a doctor. "

Link to tweet

I'm no expert, but wut? Only passengers in the immediate vicinity of the infected passenger were "given instructions on monitoring their health", and no isolation??

[jberryhill]

35. Who should have stopped them and how?

[Dennis Donovan]

36. They weren't told to self-quarantine like everyone else, just monitor symptoms

That seems irresponsible in the face of things.

[gldstwmn]

44. Good lord. Our federal government

has no fucking plan. They let these people go home an infect their entire communities.

[sanatanadharma]

23. Need a law to charge him?

How about reckless endangerment? I believe I have seen that charge made over the years as I have read stories about arrests.

[Dennis Donovan]

45. They've charged people who had AIDS and knowingly spread it?

The question mark is because I recall something like that but not 100% sure.