I fought Mealybugs on an Aglaonema for months at work. Finally took that plant home for summer. Made new healthy cuttings and gave a pot to someone at work. It did well for many months! But the mealybugs are back. don't think I am even going to take it in my house. I have the parent plant in my house and don't want to chance getting mealies back.

Mealybugs are tiny enough and hardy enough that they can hide for months in the tiniest crevices outside the pot. So if you put a healthy plant where an infected plant once was without treating the surrounding area, you will have mealybugs again.

A deep clean of the surrounding area (tabletops, saucers and pot outsides, placemats... anything within about 5 ft ) and a systemic are my weapons of choice.

the sick plant above has been on my deck since yesterday. Not touching it !

Yikes! I would sneak it into the trash and then develop short term memory loss. What plant?

My coworker is quite nice and will be ok with taking this away. I plan to offer her something else later. I am well established as the plant lady at work.