SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — An emotional plea from a mother trapped in a nightmare, and a San Diego father fighting to get her and their children out of China as the deadly coronavirus outbreak grows.
“I wish I was there. That's my home, like where you guys are now,” Yanjun Wei told News 8 as she spoke via an app from her family’s apartment in Wuhan, China.
Wei has been trapped with her children in her family's apartment for almost a month - since the outbreak of the coronavirus.
“It can be overwhelming and frustrating,” said Ken Burnett, her husband who is at their home in San Diego.
Burnett can't hide the frustration and anxiety he feels knowing his wife and two small children, 3 -year-old Rowan and 1-year-old Mia, are stuck in ground zero of the crisis.
“We heard about something and we’re always cautious about that kind of stuff,” said Wei about her family quarantining themselves more than a month ago.
Over the past week, the Chinese government has put 11 million people living in the urban area on an unprecedented quarantine. Wei and her children were in Wuhan visiting family and planned on coming home this week. Burnett returned to San Diego ahead of his wife and then the virus exploded.
“We're all staying inside. This is the safest place inside,” Wei said.
“They don't go out at all except her mom goes to the market sometimes,” Burnett said.
Wei is a permanent resident and scheduled to take her citizenship test in three weeks. Her children are U.S. citizens, but their only hope of getting home anytime soon is securing a spot on a flight chartered by the U.S. State Department. So far, their calls and pleas have gone unanswered.
“People don't really know what's going on there, and you know having been trapped inside for so long for everybody there,” Burnett told News 8.
Burnett's biggest fear is that his children will get sick or that the crisis continues for months.
“I don't want to miss three more months of their life wondering if they're in danger every day,” he said.
The family is continuing to contact the U.S. State Department and local representatives to hopefully find answers on how to get them home.