COLUMBUS — When John McGory began planning his big move from China back to Ohio, he didn’t think it would become complex.

Making the journey tense was the threat of coronavirus, a respiratory illness that spreads from person to person. The virus made headlines in an outbreak in Wuhan, China, where McGory was wrapping up a six-year teaching stint.

“It would be the height of irony for me to come back here and get the coronavirus, when I didn’t get it in Wuhan,” McGory said Monday morning.

McGory, 65, was born in Youngstown and lived there until he was 6. His family then moved to Vienna, where he attended Mathews Local Schools.

Recalling the events timeline inside China and afterward — a period of nearly eight weeks — McGory said the situation in Wuhan was calm at first.

“It started rather inocuous,” he said.

McGory learned of the coronavirus Jan. 5 when his brother, Pat, who lives in Columbus, first told him about it. They were talking when Pat brought up “a mysterious virus” making its rounds in Wuhan.

At first, McGory said he brushed off the news, not quite believing it.

“People say things about China all the time — and I’d been there for six years, and I had heard a lot of crazy things,” McGory said.

QUARANTINE

Within about two weeks, health concerns escalated enough to warrant a quarantine.

McGory was on the train when officials using megaphones told passengers to exit the public transportation.

The next day, villages on the outskirts of Wuhan began blocking entry, he said, adding that license plates helped identify origin.

A holiday luncheon for teachers was canceled, McGory said.

Instead, food was delivered, along with hand sanitizer and masks.

Since then, the quarantine has escalated. McGory has friends confined to their apartments or living quarters, he said.

“When I was there, we at least could leave the building,” he said, adding that the local Walmart was still open.

Now, there is a fence around his apartment complex.

Quarantine is how most of the city is living now, McGory said.

“A lot of people are living that way in Wuhan. I know people that haven’t been outside in five, six weeks.”

Through the American Speech Company, the Valley native taught English to freshmen at Jianghan University in Wuhan for six years, arriving back in Ohio on Feb. 27.

McGory recalled that planes arrived in China to bring Americans home.

Before his Ohio homecoming, McGory was in a two-week quarantine at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego.

When McGory stepped off the plane in San Diego, he and the passengers were met by members of the Centers for Disease Control.

“(The CDC) was saying, ‘just keep 6 feet away, and you should be fine,'” McGory said.

He arrived back to the states Feb. 5 and was in quarantine until Feb. 18. He stayed in California for almost a week, visiting with family.

Describing the two weeks as “interesting,” those in quarantine had their own “nice” rooms in California, he added.

Most people in the group wore masks and kept a distance from each other.

In all, seven people from the plane came down with symptoms of the coronavirus, so the concern of others coming down with the illess “was real,” McGory said.

SAD ENDING

During his time in Wuhan, McGory said the city was “great” and “fascinating.”

“I have nothing but fond memories,” he said. “I was kind of sad it had to end the way it did.”

McGory was already going through the motions to move back to the states, but got “stuck” in Wuhan: He applied for a two-week extension on his visa to pack up and say goodbye to friends. “That’s when the quarantine hit,” he said.

He was planning on going to Thailand for a 10-day vacation, in no rush to come back to an Ohio winter.

McGory said people from around the United States reached out to him while overseas, sending him well wishes and even offering to send money.

“Who knows what will happen to schools? The everyday things we take for granted will be impacted” as the coronavirus spreads worldwide, McGory said.

In a blog entry on American Speech Company’s website from Jan. 27, McGory noted that Wuhan city began to build two “hospitals”made of prefabricated sheet metal erected on “a slab of concrete.”

“This sounds like the city knows what’s coming,” he said.

Overall, McGory said he’s not worried about the coronavirus, noting people should keep a safe distance and continue to wash their hands.

His thoughts, however, are with his friends in Wuhan, who haven’t seen the outside world in weeks.

“I still have a lot of Chinese friends I’m worried about,” McGory said, but he has faith they will “pull through this.”

McGory said he achieved the goals he intended to, including writing a book titled “Seeking Balance,” which is about speaking English.

He resigned from the teaching position, figuring it was time to come home.

His fourth grandchild recently was born, and he wanted to see his children: two kids in Columbus and one in Cleveland.

“I thought it was time to come back,” he said.

afox@tribtoday.com