LEXINGTON, Ky. — A University of Kentucky (UK) professor is concerned about her friends and family in India. The recent surge in cases there is concerning many South Asians in Kentucky.

What You Need To Know

  • UK professor is concerned for her family in India

  • The nation is seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases

  • Death toll tops over 200,000 people

Aardra Kachroo teaches plant pathology at UK. With the semester winding down, she goes back and forth from her office and lab. But her mind is elsewhere.

“The numbers were really low, as you know in India, about a month ago and then all of a sudden [the virus] exploded, and it's really bad,” Kachroo said. “Every person I know is either infected themselves or has somebody in their family that's infected.”

She lives in Lexington now but she grew in Mumbai.

“Being far away is concerning because there's nothing I can do from here,” Kachroo said.

Uncertainty of the virus spreading has gripped her family.

“The place where my parents are is much safer. My in-laws, my husband's parents live in New Delhi in an apartment complex with his brother's family, and they are much older than my parents, and they have even more co-morbidities,” Kachroo said.

Kachroo said she’s waiting for her in-laws to get the second vaccine shot. Supplies are limited. However, the United States is stepping in to help.

Critical supplies will arrive in India this week. This ranges from refillable oxygen tanks, rapid COVID-19 tests and much more to help them fight a brutal surge of the virus.

The White House said they’re committed to sharing up to 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, still not authorized in the US, with other countries.

Health experts said that it won’t just help India but around the globe.

However, Kachroo said the worry of exposure is high especially because at least one or two family members travel for work in New Delhi.

“She takes public transportation to go to work. So we're constantly worried that that somehow my in-laws may be exposed,” Kachroo said. “I don't know how well they do if if they contracted the disease.”

More than half a dozen nations have so far delivered or pledged aid to India with a population of more than 1.3 billion people.