When Dylan Nunnally first became stuck in Barcelona because of the rising number of coronavirus cases in Spain, he decided it couldn’t hurt to wait it out.
It might just be a couple more weeks before he could head home to Decatur, he thought.
That was mid-March.
Nunnally, a sophomore studying biochemistry at the University College Dublin, has been staying with his grandmother for more than six weeks — one of thousands of Americans abroad who are unable to come home due to the coronavirus outbreak.
In Spain, considered one of the epicenters of the coronavirus outbreak, “it looks apocalyptic out there,” said Nunnally, a graduate of Druid Hills High School who traveled from Ireland to Barcelona in March for a spring break trip.
"If I go out and about now, I doubt I could see a single person," he said Sunday, as virus-related deaths in Spain surpassed 23,000. More than 50,000 people in the United States have died from the virus.
Spain’s lockdown protocols, some of the tightest in Europe, stand in stark contrast to the shelter-in-place mandates in Georgia, Nunnally said. He only leaves his grandmother’s apartment for walks to the grocery store, and can’t go on leisure walks or jogs for exercise. Sometimes, he decides to “risk it” and take a short walk to get some fresh air, but he was recently stopped and questioned by police officers, narrowly avoiding a steep fine, he said.
The country loosened some of its restrictions on Sunday, allowing children under 14 to leave their homes for the first time, once each day if accompanied by an adult.
“It’s still quite empty,” said Nunnally, who has witnessed firsthand the toll the virus takes. A man who lives downstairs from his grandmother, and who had become a family friend, died from COVID-19 a few days ago.
» COMPLETE COVERAGE: CORONAVIRUS IN GEORGIA
Nunnally has tried to find commercial flights home, but that has been tough given the limited number between the United States and Europe. He first booked a Delta flight for April 14 through the Netherlands, but that was canceled. A second flight scheduled for Monday suffered a similar fate. He rebooked for May 5, but doesn’t have much confidence in that flight happening either.
The 19-year-old reached out to the U.S. Consulate General Barcelona, he said, but was told that a commercial flight would be his best bet. According to The New York Times, about 13,500 Americans have asked the State Department for help returning from abroad.
Nunnally has monitored the recent news out of Atlanta, including Gov. Brian Kemp's order that allowed some businesses to reopen. He said it "seems pretty ludicrous" that Georgia is beginning to reopen while Spain — which was hit by the pandemic earlier than the U.S. — is still under a virtual lockdown.
He’s grateful to be spending more time than usual with his grandmother. But his mindset has shifted to getting home.
“Just get me on the plane,” he said.
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