SEATTLE — On Thursday, the State Department issued its highest travel advisory, telling Americans to avoid international travel at all costs – and if they are overseas traveling, to come home immediately.
This is what Lori Taylor is trying to do.
“I had a flight scheduled on March 19,” she said.
Taylor left on March 9 to head to Guatemala to visit a friend. As more news of the coronavirus came out, Taylor said she felt uneasy and changed her flight to come home Wednesday
“On Monday around noon, the shop keepers were starting to close up, and we inquired -- and they said, 'Yeah, the airport is closed and the President is going to make an announcement tonight,'” she said.
Taylor said she's at a safe location and has what she needs, but she wants to come home to Seattle.
“If I don’t get out now, I could be stuck here for months. And what if my husband, who’s at home, gets sick? I need to be back in Seattle for my family,” she said.
Taylor said she was aware of the coronavirus news before she left, but did not think it would turn out the way it has so far.
“Nobody expected this virus to take off and take over like it did,” she said.
In Mexico City, Krissa Hendricks and her dad were also trying to get back home to the US and got pretty close.
“We were all boarded, about 15 minutes to takeoff, and this guy comes up to me and says ‘Passenger Hendricks? You need to come with me, you are not allowed to be on this flight,” Hendricks said.
Hendricks said she initially was going to travel to Amsterdam on March 11, but had to turn around upon landing after President Trump’s travel restrictions. When she returned to the US, her and her dad talked about where they could go and opted for Guatemala because, at the time, it had minimal cases of coronavirus.
Hendricks admits she may have underestimated the scope of the crisis.
“Maybe I should have been more concerned, totally unprecedented. I guess I didn’t think things wouldn’t escalate so fast,” she said.
Both Krissa and her Dad say they have a flight booked to come home on Friday morning, and through prayer, they’re keeping an open mind about getting home.
“We’re kind of learning the hard way that if you wait on the coronavirus news, you never know what’s going to come and doors will be slammed in your face.”