Coquitlam family reunited after being separated by new coronavirus
Posted February 28, 2020 9:57 am.
Last Updated February 28, 2020 9:58 am.
COQUITLAM (NEWS 1130) – A Coquitlam family has finally been reunited, after they were kept apart by the new coronavirus.
“Before, in Wuhan, we [didn’t] know what time we can meet, but for now … I’m back,” Daniela Luo said with a sigh of relief after returning to her home with her daughter.
Her family had been separated for more than a month after the city of Wuhan in China was put on lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Her husband told CityNews Vancouver he had been eagerly awaiting his wife and nine-year-old daughter’s return.
“When your family is kind of immersed in the middle of a situation like the coronavirus, COVID-19 outbreak, and they’re at ground zero of it, it’s a scary feeling,” Monte Gisborne said.
CityNews first caught up with Grisborne in January when he was pleading with the Canadian government to bring his family home after they got caught in the centre of the outbreak while visiting family.
Both Luo and the couple’s daughter are permanent residents of Canada, and didn’t make the list for the first flight out of Wuhan for evacuees. Fortunately, the two were able to board a second flight secured by the Canadian government out of Wuhan.
“You are afraid to open your door and go out,” Luo said via Skype on Feb. 11 from CFB Trenton in Ontario, where she and her daughter were placed under quarantine upon their return to Canada. “You know that feeling? And now I have this feeling, but for sure, I was scared.”
The family hopes the federal government will be able to help more Canadians stuck in China.
“I’m hoping that the government will respond as they have to my family here, and listen to the plight of those people, and help to bring more people home,” Grisborne said. “Because every person deserves to go home.”
Now that the three are reunited, they are excited to catch up on time they’ve lost together. Meanwhile, Dominica will be returning to school next week after a whole month off.
“In China, my mom set homework for me,” Dominica said, laughing.
