“We felt comfortable going in early in February when we went, but we probably would’ve cancelled the trip at this point,” said Medford resident, Susan Craft.
Craft works at Travel Jackson, a traveling agency in Medford.
Just weeks ago, she started a trip through Asia, not expecting the Coronavirus outbreak to advance through much of the region.
She went to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore to get information on the countries and sight see.
“I wanted to be more familiar with southeast Asia so that it’s a travel option I can sell to clients,” Craft said.
She left the Rogue Valley on February 14th.
At the time, most of the cases were still centered in China, with just over 100 deaths.
During her 12 days overseas, that began to change.
“The countries were all very careful. In Malaysia, we were met by government officials who took everyone’s temperature. There were hand sanitizing and hand washing stations that the government had added,” she said.
Craft says concerns around the spread of the virus began ramping up about the time she was due to fly home.
She encountered other safety measures in each country.
“We went to a large Singapore mall and they closed all of the entrances except for two. You had to walk by a temperature sensing camera,” added Craft.
Now back in the states, she says that she’s just glad they made it home without difficulty.
“We were very relieved to come home, it made us a little nervous we’d be quarantined,” Craft said.
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