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A group of Regina women thought they’d have a hot-weather getaway at the end of winter, but instead watched from 4,000 kilometres away as COVID-19 spread through their home country and triggered travel warnings.
The women left for Mexico early on March 12, just hours before the province announced its first presumed case of COVID-19.
“When we came down, there was very, very little information or anxiety about the coronavirus being in Canada,” Janice Yung said from Mexico. “And the day we got here or the day after, all of a sudden it felt like everything exploded. So then we start to panic a little because that’s all that has been on the TV and it just seemed to go so quickly.”
The group tried to find early flights back home but they were expensive — some as much as $900 for a single return flight — or they weren’t direct. One flight would have had them stopping in Houston and then spending more than 10 hours in the Toronto airport, both of which have seen many cases.
“The connections were horrible and the money was bad — you know, having to pay extra — but then we decided, ‘Our flight is probably OK, it’s only a few days away,’ and we decided we were just going to wait,” explained Reta Love.
The women have calmed down since the weekend as more information came out, but then the news came out earlier this week that WestJet was cancelling all of its commercial flights after Sunday.
Yung and Love had travelled to Mexico to visit their friend Laurie McLean, who wasn’t due to come back to Canada until April 2. McLean and her husband have been in Mexico since December.
They did try to find an earlier flight when the warnings started being issued. The earliest they could find was March 26, but that ended up being cancelled in WestJet’s sweep.
The last time 980 CJME spoke to McLean, she didn’t know how or when they would be able to get back to the country; she said it’s really uncertain.
The women weren’t too worried about what they’ll do when they get back; both Yung and McLean would be included in high-risk categories for the virus.
The possibility of not having a direct flight back to Regina had McLean a little concerned.
“I get a little more worried when I’d have to start clearing customs in Calgary, Toronto, somewhere like that,” said McLean.
Yung said she’ll be self-isolating when she gets home and she’ll take what measures she can on the way.
“I’ll stay as far away from people as I can but in an airport that’s not always possible,” said Yung, though she added that she’s feeling fine and is positive she’ll be OK.