NBC 7’s Erika Cervantes spoke to the student about what she’s heard from friends back in China.
The University of California has temporarily stopped all non-essential travel to China due to concerns over the coronavirus. U.C. San Diego said none of its students are studying abroad in China right now. However, there are students whose families are affected by the viral outbreak.
Jessica Xu, a student at Peking University in China, can’t go back to school so she’s spending some time in San Diego with her sister who goes to a UCSD. Xu is a freshman at Peking but her winter semester has been postponed.
"I think my initial reaction was this is actually something pretty serious if they're telling us not to go back because it means the virus is really effecting people,” Xu explained.
For now she’s using social media to keep up with her friends in China, most of whom are staying at home and only going outside with a mask.
“I am worried for their health and how severe this is getting for sure, but I can't go into panic mode or anything, I'm just trying to hope for the best and just keeping them in my mind as well,” she said.
Meanwhile on campus at UCSD, students have been spotted wearing breathing masks of their own despite there being no confirmed cases in the county.
Student Yifei Zhang started wearing his mask after the confirmed cases in Los Angeles and Orange counties. After hearing about the HHSA's investigation into a possible local case earlier this week, Zhang told NBC 7 the mask would stay on.
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"It makes me more concerned," Zhang said. "I'm probably going to keep wearing it just in case."
