The recent coronavirus outbreak in China has led to the cancellation of the Chinese exchange program that was set to take place on Feb. 2 and 3. 

The exchange program had approximately 25 Chinese students who were going to spend the night with a host family on Feb. 2 and then shadow an Algonquin student on Feb. 3. This strand of coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, which has flu-like symptoms and may lead to pneumonia, can be contracted from contact with an infected person.

“Early on, it was unclear on what the spread was going to be and how serious it was,” social studies teacher Brittany Burns said. “We were doing the exchange trip through a company that was based in China but had a representative here, so there were a lot of messages and phone calls going back and forth to keep tabs on the situation.” 

Although the distance between Wuhan, the location of the initial outbreak, and Chengdu, where the students were coming from, is 900 miles, the program was still canceled. 

“It was neither Algonquin nor the company that was dealing with the exchange students that canceled it,” Burns said. “I had a phone call with a representative of that company. When I spoke with him, he announced before it was on the news that the Chinese government had put a stop to all travel within China, so the students would not be able to leave Chengdu anyway.”

Despite this setback, Burns hopes to try the exchange program again next year. 

“It is important to me to get a program like this off the ground and eventually get a two-way exchange going on,” Burns said. “I think it’s vital to get to know people. Even during this time I’ve experienced a lot of misunderstandings about the culture, and I think it’s because of the lack of exposure. I know the coronavirus will make people nervous, but I think it’s important to open up the opportunity to get to know people around the world.”