OHIO — This is the new normal for many families after the coronavirus — talking to each other through Skype, when all they want to do is wrap their arms around each other.
“We are all three at home, but I miss my son,” said Charo Jimenez, mother of exchange student Marcos Ortega.
“I miss my parents and I wish they’re doing fine,” said Marcos Ortega, Ohio exchange student.
But for the Ortega family, Marcos is in Ohio and his mom, dad, and brother are 4,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean in Madrid, Spain — one of the places hardest hit by the coronavirus.
“I hope this situation will end very soon, but I’m very worried,” said Jimenez.
The area has been on lockdown for the past week. They can’t leave their house without getting questioned by police.
“All the population has been confined to their homes and there are restrictions to go out, so it’s been quite weird and difficult to live a normal life,” said Domingo Ortega Sr., Marcos Ortega’s father.
It’s part of the reason his family says Marcos is better off in the U.S. — at least for now.
“For us it’s kind of a relief knowing that he, that everything there in Ohio is a lot better than here,” said Domingo Ortega Jr., Marcos Ortega’s brother.
But Marcos worries that things here in Ohio are going to get worse and he’ll be forced to go back during the pandemic.
“They warned me to be mentally prepared and pack my suitcase just in case,” said Marcos Ortega.
He was supposed to be in Ohio until the end of the school year — here with a host family to get a high school education through a student exchange program.
“I feel sad, I didn’t wanna leave until I was supposed to,” Marcos Ortega said.
But with his school already closed, Marcos says everything is stuck in limbo.
“Things are changing so I don’t know what’s gonna happen,” he said.
For now, he’s just trying to make the best of it — virtually —while his family is sending a warning before it gets worse here too.
“If you stay home, that will be the best tool to get to the end of this nightmare,” said Domingo Ortega Sr.