WASHINGTON — The coronavirus is having impacts on people all around the world. For one thing, it has limited travel between numerous countries and the U.S.
This is the time of year where Tia Mills would be planning her surprise visit home from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Instead, the coronavirus will delay her trip, and Mills has no idea when she’ll be able to share a moment in person with her family again.
"We do video calls. We have WhatsApp groups and things like that, but it's not the same thing as, you know, getting a hug from my mom or laughing with my family face-to-face, so I have no idea, and it makes me really sad to think about it," Mills said.
For the past five years, she’s lived in the Middle East, teaching children. When COVID-19 became a global issue, she considered coming home.
"There are a lot of reasons that I didn't come," she said. "One is because the U.S., in my opinion, has not been taking this thing as seriously as they should."
The North Carolina native didn’t want to potentially expose her family to a virus we know little about.
"It was just way too much to try and get home, and I felt like I was putting people at risk," Mills said.
She's also noticed how differently the two nations are responding to the pandemic.
"For the last three weeks or so, we've been on a nightly lock downs from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m. They do sterilization of the streets. You're not allowed outside. No movement is allowed unless you're an essential worker that has to be out at night," she said.
That’s played a role in her decision to stay overseas.
"A lot of states aren't taking it seriously, and I can't run the risk of not being able to get back here when it's time for me to work, because this is where my job is," Mills said.
The uncertainty of the future gives Mills tons of pause. She wants everyone to consider first responders whenever they step outside of their homes.
"It really makes me upset, because my mom is in the health care field and she actually works at a testing site," Mills said. "So, every day I talk to her, I have this anxiety and I broke down last week because it's just like people aren't taking it seriously."
Typically, Mills said she’s able to get a direct flight into the states from the United Arab Emirates, but she said travel between the two nations is currently suspended.