The passenger who flew to Lanzarote last Friday after testing positive for coronavirus is not currently facing criminal proceedings, but only an administrative file that could end with a financial penalty.
"We will see the termination of the administrative actions that are currently taking place and what the final result is," said the Minister of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, Julio Cruz, who has not even ventured to assure that a fine will be imposed. "Open a file, of course," he said, specifying that "sanctioning" or not will depend on the result of that file.
For their part, the Civil Guard explains that they went to the Lanzarote airport last Friday to "collaborate with the health authority", identifying the passenger upon landing the plane. However, although the agents prepared a report, they have decided not to send it directly to the Courts, as they are not clear if there was "dolo" (intentionality) in their actions, which would be necessary for a crime to have existed.
"It was irresponsible"
"It was irresponsible on his part, but it is not clear if he knew he had Covid or if he had been warned that he should be in isolation," say the sources consulted by La Voz. These extremes could be confirmed in the course of a criminal investigation, but to initiate it, the Prosecutor's Office would have to act ex officio, or the Ministry of Health or the Government Delegation would have to file a complaint, which for the moment have not taken steps in that direction.
The only ones who have raised the possibility of suing this person are some of the passengers who were on that plane, both for having put their health at risk and for the disturbances that this has caused them. Initially, the 135 were told that they should be quarantined for 14 days, although finally on Saturday this measure was restricted only to the 13 people who were sitting in the closest seats, and the rest were notified that they could lead a "normal life".
In the event that they or any administration decided to file that complaint, they could go to the Courts and there the report of the Civil Guard would be incorporated, which is available for any investigation that is initiated, both in the administrative and in the criminal way.
"If he broke the quarantine now, action would be taken"
Regarding the passenger with Covid-19, he did not present symptoms and on Friday he was transferred by ambulance to his home, in the municipality of Tinajo, where he has to keep total isolation. "If he broke the quarantine now, then action would be taken," the Civil Guard specifies.
As La Voz de Lanzarote reported last Friday, this man had traveled from the island to Ciudad Real due to the illness of his mother, who died a few days later. Being there and after his mother tested positive for Covid-19, they tested him and several members of his family, as they were suspected cases of a possible contagion. However, although the protocol establishes that in these cases isolation must be maintained, after the burial of his mother and without waiting for the results of the tests, he began the trip back to Lanzarote.
It was at that moment when the health authority in Ciudad Real tried to locate him without success, to inform him that he had tested positive in the tests. Then they spoke with his sister, who reported that they had just taken him by car to the Madrid airport to fly to Lanzarote.
Thus, while the plane was already heading to the island, the flight commander was notified that there was a passenger who had just tested positive for coronavirus. Meanwhile, in Lanzarote the device was activated with agents of the Civil Guard, health personnel of the Canary Islands Health Service and personnel of the Security and Emergency Consortium and various NGOs, to isolate the affected passenger and activate the protocol with the rest.
"It's not the only case"
"No matter how much control we put in place, individual indiscipline is very difficult to control," said the Minister of Health of the Canary Islands, who stressed that the case of this passenger is not "the only one" they have faced. "Not even the only one that day," he said, stressing that "this one transcended" and others did not.
"We had a matter in Fuerteventura, where a passenger escaped from the control. Or in Gran Canaria, passengers who have not wanted to take their temperature," he said. In addition, he insisted that "the best control is the control at origin", and has lamented that "in other places that control is not being done" in ports and airports, unlike what he claims does happen in the Canary Islands.
In the case of this flight from Madrid, several passengers have confirmed to La Voz that in Barajas they were not even taken the temperature before boarding the plane. In fact, another passenger had a fever of 38, as was found when they put the thermometer on him upon arrival in Lanzarote. In his case, he was also transferred by ambulance to his home after taking samples to perform the tests, and finally the results were negative.
"What should be put in the foreground is individual responsibility, because we are not going to solve this situation with fines and the Civil Guard", the Canarian Minister insisted, censuring the attitude of the passenger who boarded the plane "being pending an analysis".
Regarding the fact that that plane later flew back to Madrid with the same crew, after picking up new passengers in Lanzarote, the Minister of Tourism has defended that the protocol was complied with. "If a plane is immobilized, we go back to the times of the Normans. The idea of the Government of the Canary Islands is that planes are safe," he defended, even recalling that the regional Executive has asked that the restriction of the distance between passengers be eliminated, allowing all seats to be occupied. "With planes at half or a third, we cannot recover tourism," he argued.
