A Sacramento native is scared coronavirus shutdown will leave her stranded in Morocco
A Sacramento native is worried a coronavirus travel ban will keep her and group of travelers from the United States stranded in Morocco, where the government is set to shutdown the airport this week.
Tessa Matsis Smith is among 10 women who traveled to Morocco on March 7, and they were scheduled to return on a Delta Airlines flight Saturday out of Casablanca. But she told The Sacramento Bee that the Moroccan government is expected to end all incoming and outgoing flights, all ferry crossings and all border crossings Friday.
“There are no current flights available, departing on or before this date, so we are currently stranded in Marrakech and confined to our hotel,” she said in a series of emails.
Smith said on Wednesday the hotel was closing, but staff there were allowing her group to stay until Thursday morning. She also said they have been told to seek an apartment, possibly through May, and that the group was looking for an Airbnb to share.
Smith does not blames the government or people of Morocco. She said they contacted the U.S. Embassy in Morocco and were told to go to the already crowded Marrakech airport. But there are no other flights available until next week, after the borders are closed.
She is among an estimated 3,000 Americans trying to get on flights home with complaints of inaction from U.S. authorities in the country, the Los Angeles Times reported. The United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain had arranged for repatriation flights for their citizens.
A U.S. State Department official told The Washington Post on Tuesday that it’s “considering all options to assist U.S. citizens in these countries and are continuously assessing travel conditions in all areas affected by COVID-19.” The newspaper also reported that the U.S. Embassy in Rabat’s Twitter account urged U.S. citizens to try to book a seat on one of 50 commercial flights the British Embassy was organizing to London until Thursday.
Smith is a hairstylist who lives in Portland, Oregon. She worked at Strands Salon and Spa on Folsom Boulevard in Sacramento for 13 years. She still returns to the Sacramento area, where she owns a home and styles hair for wedding clients.
She and her wife, Jessica Smith, traveled with the group for a 14-day trip through Morocco that was booked more than a year ago. Smith said they had an incredible trip visiting large cities and local villages up until they learned this week the borders were closing.
Her group from Oregon and their friends have started a petition on change.org to urge the U.S. government into action and bring them back from Morocco.
Smith said her traveling group is well aware of the crisis that awaits them in the U.S., as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths grows and authorities call for residents to stay home or avoid close contact with others to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Grandmother at Sacramento assisted living center
Smith has a grandmother with lung and heart disease being cared for at Mercy McMahon Terrace assisted living center on J Street in Sacramento. She had a scheduled flight to visit the weekend after she returned from Morocco.
“I worry I might not see her again,” Smith said. “We have learned of the lack of supplies in the U.S. and the fast-growing numbers that are affected, especially on the coasts.”
She said others in the group have children, parents, grandparents and partners in the U.S. they’re worried about. One of the travelers has type 2 diabetes, two are asthmatic and two are in need of thyroid medication, according to Smith.
“We have no contingency plan because of how quickly Morocco has shut down,” Smith said. “We are all desperate to get back to U.S. soil, as lovely as this country and our wonderful tour guides have been.”
This story was originally published March 18, 2020 at 8:35 PM with the headline "A Sacramento native is scared coronavirus shutdown will leave her stranded in Morocco."
