BOSTON (WHDH) - A Massachusetts woman is finally back home after running into problems while traveling in Honduras due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Corie Welch is at the end of a long journey back to the United States. The Clark University Graduate said she tried for more than a week to get home before the embassy sent her a message notifying her and a group of Americans to go to a nearby hotel.
There, she said they were loaded onto an Immigration and Customs Enforcement plane without being screened for the virus.
“We weren’t checked. And when we landed we just handed in a customs form,” Welch said. “They didn’t check our bags, they didn’t check our temperatures, and they just dropped us off at the tarmac and left us to fend for ourselves.”
After being dropped off on the tarmac in Alexandria, Louisiana, Welch said she had to find her own way back to Boston.
“They were shutting down everything at 5:00 the next day, so we had less than 24 hours to find a way out of Louisiana,” she explained. “I booked 4 flights to get out of Alexandria, but 3 were canceled.”
At a coronavirus task force press conference Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo offered a promising update:
“Since January 29th we have now repatriated over 50,000 U.S. citizens back to their homes,” he announced, adding, “This worldwide scale of our repatriation efforts is without parallel in our lifetime.”
Welch said she is grateful to the state department but said she is worried about the lack of testing as tens of thousands of Americans are brought back.
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