MARCH 19 • 2020 | 35

then the plot thickened.
“Dear customer, your flight
from Tel Aviv to Frankfurt/
Main on Sunday is canceled,”
the email from Lufthansa
read laconically. “Please
accept our apologies. We are
looking for alternatives and
will be in touch shortly with a
solution.”
Needless to say, they
weren’
t.
So, there I was, stuck near
Gaza, with no car, no spare
clothes, no place to stay, no
flight home and under strict
orders to not spend time in
public.
The new instructions
affected 70,000 Israelis, so
the hotlines were, naturally,
collapsing. When I finally got
ahold of someone, I became
even more confused.
“You are allowed to leave
the country, but not the
current place you’
re staying
at,” said the representative.
Unless, they offered, “some-
one can take you through the
entire route until the check-in
counter.”
Great. Even the Mossad
couldn’
t save me now. My
phone buzzed again. A guy
named Lukas was on the
other end. In a thick German
accent, he said he was part of
the coronavirus emergency
team for my company, the
English-language German
news organization Deutsche
Welle.
“We’
re getting you on the
next flight,” Lukas said. “The
embassy is briefed. Can you
leave tonight?”
I couldn’
t. “Tomorrow
morning?” he insisted. It was
already 8 p.m. “Let me run to
our travel agents,” he added.
A race against time began.
My friend drove me to the

nearest train station, where
I wasn’
t allowed to board a
train. A man then offered me
a ride to Tel Aviv after seeing
me in distress, and a taxi
driver volunteered to take me
from Tel Aviv all the way to
Haifa.
This entire time, my editors
in Germany were calling, as
well as people working for
the Israeli embassy in Berlin.
A friend agreed to take me
from the taxi station to my
mother’
s home in Haifa and
drive me to the train station
afterward. When the last train
had run, another taxi driver
let me hitch a ride with his
son to Tel Aviv.
Complete strangers con-
nected me with doctors who
guided me over the phone on
how to behave and what to
avoid. Finally, I made it to the
airport check-in counter, just
as I was told.

NO END IN SIGHT
The outbreak itself is far
from curbed. With more
than 180,000 cases confirmed
worldwide, and more than
255 in Israel, Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu has
ordered schools and univer-
sities shuttered. President
Donald Trump has banned
all flights from Europe to the
U.S., and the global death toll
stands at more than 6,700. All
numbers are from March 16.
Scientists at Israel’
s Institute
for Biological Research are
furiously developing a vac-
cine. In the meantime, please
listen to all public health
guidelines. And wash your
hands.

Dana Regev is an Israeli-born journal-
ist who reports on global affairs for
Deutsche Welle in Germany.

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