A couple of millionaires chartered a private plane and pretended to be motel workers in the remote community of Beaver Creek, Canada, to skip the line for Moderna’s covid-19 vaccine. Both were fined for failing to go into social isolation and another for failing to self-report quarantine, totaling US $ 1,150 (R $ 6,100) for each.
According to local news site Yukon News, the couple have been identified as Rodney Baker, 55, and Ekaterina Baker, 32. Both were fined in the city of Whitehorse on the 21st.
The couple are believed to have traveled from Vancouver, where they live, to the city of Whitehorse. The couple then chartered a private plane to the remote community of Beaver Creek, rather than doing a mandatory quarantine at the first stop. The indictment points out that the couple reached the community and went to the mobile clinic that administers Moderna’s vaccine doses to the isolated population of around 100 people living in the area.
Residents are in the priority group as they are more vulnerable to the impacts of covid-19 as they are far from hospitals and lack the resources to deal with the disease, the local CBC website says.
Arriving at the mHealth unit, Rodney and Ekaterina reportedly lied to clinic staff, represented themselves “in various ways” and worked at a local motel, according to Community Services Minister John Streicker.
The local news site explained that people who live and work in the area do not need to present an identity card to be vaccinated. Janet Vander Meer, who leads the covid-19 team in the community, said that although the site is very small and with few inhabitants, there are people who live and work in the city, which may explain why the couple did not raise initial suspicions. .
The couple expressed doubts after filing a complaint with the Canadian Ethnic Media Association’s inspection team, as they both demanded to go to the airport shortly after receiving the immunizing agent.
Local officials traveled to the Whitehorse airport and discovered that the private plane the two men had hired had already landed at Beaver Creek. Officers then moved to where Rodney and Ekaterina said they would be quarantined according to a self-declaration they made – required to enter the community – and also failed to find the couple. on the spot.
Back at the Whitehorse airport, authorities found the couple ready to leave the city and imposed two fines on the couple. One for not having followed social isolation and the other for not complying with the self-declaration of quarantine, with a total of US $ 1,150 (R $ 6,100) each. The couple have up to 30 days to pay the fine or dispute the charges, plead not guilty and seek a trial.
If they choose to stand trial and are sentenced, the couple can pay costs of C $ 500 (2,100 BRL) plus a surcharge of 75 (316 BRL) per charge and six months in jail.
The Government of Yukon and the First Nation of White River lamented the couple’s planned project. “We are deeply concerned about the actions of individuals who put our elderly and vulnerable at risk for selfish ends,” said the head of White River, Angèle Defog, in a report.
Couple
Roney was CEO of Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, which owns casinos and racetracks across Canada. The man resigned yesterday. According to the company’s public financial records, the millionaire’s annual compensation was US $ 10.6 million (R $ 56 million) in 2019.
The company was asked about the attitude of the former CEO and a spokesperson said he “does not comment on personal matters.”
“As a company, Great Canadian takes health and safety protocols very seriously, and our company strictly adheres to all directives and guidelines issued by public health authorities in each jurisdiction where we operate. “
Ekaterina, who is of Russian descent, reportedly posted on her Instagram in March 2020 that she was quarantined because her father Diabetes and it is a virus risk group.
“During this unique and tender moment, I stay at home for: all the children, so that they don’t have to say goodbye to their parents and grandparents so soon,” she wrote in the description of the post on social networks. I stay home to be part of the solution. Everyone stays at home. It’s the right thing to do, “he wrote in his profile on the now private network.
The CBC attempted to contact the couple, but received no response until the report was released.
“Travel aficionado. Twitter scholar. Writer. Extreme coffee guru. Evil pop culture fanatic.”