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Wife desperate to get husband back to U.S. amid travel bans due to COVID-19 outbreak

Posted at 11:36 AM, Mar 26, 2020
and last updated 2020-03-27 12:43:40-04

An American, who left the U.S. two weeks ago to climb Machu Pichu in Peru, says he can’t return home.

Husband and father, Chris McLeroy, left on March 13, and due to travel bans implemented in efforts to curb the COVID-19 outbreak, he says he can’t get back to America or even across the border to get a flight home.

“We are told we are not allowed back into the U.S because the borders of Peru have been closed, and so there is no travel between the regions,” he said.

Meanwhile, over 4,000 miles away, his wife and son are forced to wait.

“We all have our moments of sad and worry,” said McLeroy’s wife, Jodi. “I have to hide all that because I don’t want my son to see it. I want him to feel safe.”

Every day, Jodie McLeroy is working with local officials, including her U.S senator, desperately trying to get her husband home.

The couple is trying not to lose hope.

“It’s certainly creating an anxiety not being able to be there with my family going through this,” Chris McLeroy said.

He says he needs transportation to the nearest airport, but the roads are blocked.

“It’s going to take the U.S. government to make that arrangement to get them to the airport,” he said.

But, the question is, when will that happen?

“I have faith he will make it home,” Jodie McLeroy said. “I just don’t know when.”