Instagram can have some beautiful posts about Hawaii. The one we are speaking about, unfortunately, was not one of them. We were floored when we saw the first of these viral posts earlier today. One has since been deleted, although the furor from it has continued unabated in another post still live below at the time of publishing. We also grabbed a screenshot before the original one disappeared to share with you. Beware of foul language.
Alexis Lopez is not vaccinated, and thus complied with the Hawaii Safe Travels Covid testing protocol before traveling to Hawaii from his home in Las Vegas. As we understand, the test result was actually negative and he came to Hawaii from Las Vegas, perhaps to get married here, we aren’t sure. When he arrived, however, and got on Instagram, it all went wrong, terribly wrong.
He posted claiming that he in fact used someone else’s negative test result to come here and that he actually has Covid and traveled to Hawaii anyway. That was a ruse, and he used his own test and does not have Covid.
You can see some of what he had to say, and the comments that followed below:
View this post on Instagram
One commenter said, “Hope you enjoy Hawai’i !! Hoping you get that ocean-view from behind bars.” Another said, “Oh buddy. You messed up. 🤦♂️” And lastly, someone came to his support, saying, “Dude says this was all an “inside joke” and that we “live in a free country and we can say (what) ever we want to.”
Alexis added that he didn’t know how his post had gone viral, that it was just to be shared with his cousin. He is quoted as saying, “If I offended anybody of course I apologize.”
As a result of his posts, Alexis has received hundreds of negative comments, angry messages about not being welcome, and threats that likely just ruined his entire vacation.
Governor Ige and Lt. Governor Green both got word of this too and were none too happy. Green said, “If people falsify a vaccine card, that’s a federal document, if people falsify their tests, it can be punishable by some pretty large fines and even some time in prison.” Green also mentioned that while, in the end, this appears to be a hoax, in fact, there have been recent cases of arrivals in Hawaii who had fake Covid documents.
The governor added, “I’ve seen posts recently about someone claiming to be coming to Hawaiʻi while sick with COVID and intentionally cheating the Safe Travels test. Please know that the right agencies are now investigating and will take appropriate action.”
We don’t even know what to say about this. So we’ll leave it up to you. Mahalo.
The address of this guy’s local accommodations should be part of his Safe Travels profile. I wonder if the police will pay him a visit (assuming he didn’t list a fictitious address).
It isn’t worth the trouble, because you probably couldn’t make it stick, especially after a jury gets a look at this guy and decides he’s just incredibly stupid, not malicious, but could there be a case made for terroristic threatening the people of Hawaii? I’m not a lawyer so I don’t know. I couldn’t think of anything else off the top of my head that might apply. This sort of thing, at this point, should be dealt with harshly. I also think people that cause a ruckus on flights should be banned from all air travel for 5 years, minimum. Nothing else seems to get the point across to some people so maybe a metaphorical punch in the face will. If you go into someone’s home and tell them you are going to burn it down, there will be consequences, including not being allowed to come back. Gentle persuasion and public ridicule have not been able to change some of this asinine behavior, so maybe civil or criminal penalties will.
You wonder why people from Hawaii don’t like tourist visiting the islands especially now that the Delta Variant is out of control . Reckless immature selfish people like you deserve to be punished to the maximum !!! I’ve had friends and family that got sick and some passed away from Covid !! I’m won’t be sorry for whatever bad comes your way .
The guy comes off as an irresponsible,immature,jerk. Even if it is not true he is undermining the sense of security that proof of vaccine/pre testing gives travelers. There should be some punishment for this fraud.
The guy is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He has brought an investigation down on himself, and I’m sure the airlines are taking notice of a passenger who may have deliberately exposed their personnel and other passengers. There will always be bad actors but sometimes with social media they out themselves.
Sad that this would even be considered a joke. That someone would think it is ok to knowingly expose a plane full of people, islands with limited resources and likely cause deaths and think it’s a funny joke is selfish, and consciously unaware, all under the guise of “it’s a free country” and I want to criticize governments. And his comment “If I offended anybody of course I apologize.” “If”? Alex is not only an artist… he’s an idiot.
Mahalo Rob & Jeff!
As always, thank you for keeping this wonderful newsletter going 🙂
This sounds like a drugged-up rant–much of it sounds incoherent and is indecipherable.
The pandemic has made visible both the most despicable of humanity, and the most admirable.
I try to focus on the positive qualities we humans can exhibit, although, it is very disturbing & distressing
to see this. I think I’ve said this before: we all need to keep Hawai’i safe and preserve it’s history, culture
and beauty at all cost.
Hi Dayna.
Thanks. We value your continued input.
Aloha.
I don’t know if his comments were to be a joke or not. However I agree with you Dayne.
I’ve got often thought that the strength of The First Amendment is that it encourages people with abhorrent ideas to self-expose themselves so we can be aware of the danger they pose to others.
Aloha! I just believe this shows the mentality of some people. I hope he enjoyed his posts! What are we teaching our kids? What some people won’t do to bring attention to themselves. WHY? Seems it’s impossible now to just think about other people and what you say or do may affect others. I’m sorry anyone had to see this and hope he is punished for his stupidity. Don’t say or do things to hurt others or to make yourself look important! Respect others!
Yes he is in a free country and can say what he wants, even if what he was saying is incorrect and hurting people. However, people have a right to say what they think of him for saying incorrect thinks.
He should be ashamed of himself.
If this was a joke, it’s not funny. I hope he does have to pay a large fine or some jail time for this immature move.