Family that fled coronavirus in China becomes infected in Memphis

A Tennessee family is recovering from COVID-19 after becoming infected with the virus.

James Dickey said his entire family, including 8-year-old daughter Hermione, all tested positive for the virus this month. They’re not sure where or how they became infected, as they’ve all been wearing masks in public.

Dickey said the family knew something was wrong when his father started experiencing symptoms of the coronavirus.

But Dickey said he believes it is “supreme irony” that the family contracted the virus stateside because they evacuated his daughter from Wuhan, China, in February to avoid it. At the time, Hermoine was visiting her mother, Dickey’s ex-wife, in Asia.

“We brought her back her to keep her safe,” he told WHBQ-TV. “And because I believe not everybody is taking the precautions that they ought to take, we end up getting it.”

Dickey told the news station it was difficult to get his daughter back to the U.S.

“That is where the epicenter was. It was real. It was scary with everything getting shutdown,” he said. “All the train station, all the airports, everything down to the taxis on the street shut down, went away and I could not go back and get my daughter.”

Dickey said there’s a stark contrast in how the U.S. has handled COVID-19 versus China. He mostly wishes people would be more intentional about wearing masks.

“We’re Americans -- we don’t want people to tell us what to do. We’re not like the Chinese who accepted it when they were barricaded into their home, but it’s not asking a lot to wear a mask. I just wish people would do it,” Dickey said.