CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A student group of about 28 from Kanawha County was scheduled to arrive back in the United States on Friday evening after their trip to Europe was cut short due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19.
Kizmet Chandler, a teacher at Nitro High School, sponsored the trip organized through EF Tours, according to Briana Warner, a spokesperson for Kanawha County Schools.
The group with students from Nitro High School and George Washington High School left for Europe on March 8 and were originally scheduled to return on March 17.
Instead, on Thursday, they flew from Zurich, Switzerland to London, England en route to Charleston via an airport in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said Thursday her office had been in contact with those on the trip to help facilitate their altered travel.
No specific information was available on Thursday about self-quarantine plans for the group.
Warner said those with the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department were monitoring their return.
The students had visited both Switzerland and Germany.
On Wednesday night, President Donald Trump announced a travel ban lasting 30 days that applied to foreign nationals, not U.S. citizens, who had been to more than 20 specific European countries within the past 14 days.