According to the World Health organization, Coronavirus has proved itself to be officially named as a global pandemic. President Donald Trump has taken action by creating a thirty-day travel ban to Europe that came into effect midnight on Friday, Mar. 13. With the addition of the United Kingdom and Ireland on Mar. 14, all travel to Europe will be cut off.
McIntosh’s spring break is during the last week of President Trump’s travel ban.
President Trump believes that most of the U.S cases that have been confirmed have come from travellers to Europe. “The European Union failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from China and other hotspots,” President Trump said. “As a result, a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travellers from Europe.”
Many airlines have also begun to put in policies for refunds for tickets to Europe that were purchased before a specific date. Delta Airlines has enacted a policy for travellers to COVID-19 hot-spots around the world, along with many other airlines, to give some leeway to travellers affected by this travel ban.

Some students at McIntosh are wondering how the travel ban will affect their spring break plans. While many tickets will be refunded, many students may miss a once in a lifetime opportunity.

“My family and I were planning on going to Poland over spring break, but I’m really worried I won’t get to go because of the new travel ban,” said sophomore Sarah Brzoska. “I’ve been looking forward to my trip for a while now. It makes me anxious about how everyone I know there will be affected too.”

Stay tuned to mhstrail.org regarding COVID-19 updates.