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Evacuation From Ghana & Returning to the U.S. during the Pandemic of 2020
Africa felt safer. The United States was a Coronavirus Battlefield
Lagos, Nigeria several weeks before the evacuation flight
It was March and I had been in Lagos since January. The news on BBC, CNN, world news outlets, Aljazeera, radio programs and talk shows was all about the rapid spread of the deadly coronavirus and the alarming number of deaths, especially in Italy.
People were glued to the news.
It was only a matter of time before borders would begin to close, so I quickly booked a return flight back to Accra, Ghana because my ticket back to the States departed from there.
Heading to the airport, the usual “go slow” on Lagos roads and highways was curiously absent and I arrived at the airport in record time. The airport itself was a virtual ghost town.
Accra, Ghana
I returned to Accra in the nick of time. Six days later, the Ghanaian government shut down all the country’s borders. That’s air, land and sea. Nothing in. Nothing out.
I arrived to a mostly empty airport where immigration officials adhered to safety precautions and protocols. Everyone…
