She’s trying to return to Sacramento from the Middle East during a coronavirus travel ban
Sacramento Library Director Rivkah Sass may be one of the first Americans to test how President Trump’s suspension of travel from Europe may affect travelers this week.
Sass was in Amman, Jordan, Thursday after spending several days working with librarians at the Za’atari Camp, the largest Syrian refugee center in the world located on the Syrian border, before planning to fly back to the United States through Europe.
“I am hopeful that I will get home safe and sound on time,” she said by cell phone Thursday morning Sacramento time. “I fly from Amman to Paris to Los Angeles and from Los Angeles to Sacramento.”
Whether her Delta Airlines trip works out that way is not clear, with foreign officials scrambling to react to the president’s announcement that starting Friday he was suspending travel from Europe – excluding the United Kingdom – for 30 days.
American citizens are expected to be allowed to return, but the extent of screening remained unclear Thursday regarding the ban, which is to take effect at midnight Friday.
“I have a plan B,” Sass said. “I thought what I would do is, I have a seven-hour layover in Paris. In the worst case, I’ll take the Chunnel to England and get a flight from London and come home.”
But Sass acknowledged the world has changed dramatically since she left Sacramento last week.
“When I flew in last week I flew Southwest to Los Angeles and then I was waiting for my flight out of LA and, nothing,” she said. “There were a few people wearing masks.
“There really wasn’t any discussion about coronavirus. I took wipes and I wiped everything down on the plane and went to Paris, and when I got to Paris, again, one or two people with masks but nothing out of the ordinary.”
Since then, the World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 a worldwide pandemic, stock markets have plummeted, large gatherings have been discouraged or banned and the NBA season has been suspended over fears about the virus.
But Sass said she has seen little of the fear gripping some parts of the United States.
“There’s one reported case in Jordan so far,” she said. “It’s been incredible. What I find so interesting is the camp is being very careful, and they’re doing a lot of education.”
“I am not a big fan of Purell or hand sanitizer. I like to wash my hands. I’m a big believer in soap and water, as are all the people in the camp. But they’ve also brought out the hand sanitizer, and they’re taking it in stride.
“Instead of shaking hands, which is common here, we bump elbows or bump feet.”
Sass also was realistic about the fact that her return trip likely will offer nothing more than a slight inconvenience, if she’s lucky.
“Honestly, think about my first world problems as I’m telling you what I will do if I can’t get a flight out of Paris,” she said. “I’m working with people, some of who’ve been at Za’atari since 2012.
“It’s amazing.”
This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 5:00 AM.