The Chilean family who cannot return to their home in the UK due to the restrictions against the coronavirus

They left London on December 5. Like anyone living abroad, Christmas seems like the perfect time to try and return home to visit family and friends.

But the trip has now turned into a headache for Carla Banfi, Mauricio Díaz and Leonor, a Chilean couple and their 3-year-old daughter who despite keep paying your rent in one of the most expensive cities in the world, they cannot go home.

The cost of the measures imposed by the United Kingdom for those arriving from abroad is making many unable to return.

From February 15, travelers who set foot in England from a “red list” of risk countries are taken to hotels to self-isolate for ten days.

In that red list are all the countries of South America.

The bill for that stay is fixed and amounts to 1,750 pounds (about US $ 2,400), a figure that is difficult for many to assume, including Carla’s family, who, as the bills pile up, desperately try to find a solution.

Still stranded in Santiago de Chile, Banfi told his story as follows:

“My husband Mauricio, my 3 year old daughter and I have lived in London since September 2018.

Once a year we try to come see friends and family, usually for Christmas.

And well, this year we did it like that.

It was particularly special because my dad died in April 2020 of a stroke.

We schedule the trip knowing that I can work from home and my husband can continue with his studies.

We said ‘now, let’s stay a couple of months.’

But then the whole issue of confinement in London came up and our return flight was canceled.

And now they have imposed the stay in hotels, which makes it practically impossible for us to pay.

We have one House rent of 2,000 pounds per month and it is a drama, because obviously we continue to pay for it.

Luckily here we are at my mother’s house and so we didn’t have to pay double.

But London bills are not limited to rent.

Keep coming the electricity bill, the water, the local tax, internet.

Nor do I explain the emotional burden of everything, but that we do not know well what to do, whether to go through another country or wait.

We can’t go straight to London because we cannot bear the cost.

I find that the price of the hotel it’s crazy and that you have to pay for it yourself too.

My perception of this is that you are imposed a fine and jail time for doing nothing.

Especially coming from Chile that has practically no contagions of the Brazilian strain, which is why it is supposedly on the red list.

In that sense, the inclusion of Chile, a country that should not be considered high risk, makes me think that they have not taken the time to do this study seriously and they have put all countries in the same bag.

Here in Chile, for example, there are health residences paid for by the State, something rare in this country that is so liberal.

And so you think that the imposition of such a kind of restriction should at least be partly paid for by the government.

One has no chance of reducing the cost a bit.

But this situation also has a big psychological bill as a family.

What am I going to do with my daughter locked up for 10 days without her things, her toys.

Imagine if it is difficult for me to work here having to take care of her, I don’t want to imagine being locked up in a hotel room.

Even worse.

I don’t even want to think what it would be like to be with all the suitcases inside, where to put everything, how to organize it.

Because if you do the quarantine at home it is different.

There are several rooms, there is a television to entertain her for a while, her books, her toys, everything.

That lack of security it is a very great emotional burden.

There is no certainty of anything. You can’t decide anything because we don’t know what will happen.

The other thing is that, as in any relationship, suddenly there are frictions.

We are not in our house. We want to be in our space.

My daughter misses her home too and says it explicitly, that she wants to go home.

And the nursery

We also run the risk of losing the deposit we made at the nursery.

We want you to come back.

The fact of continuing here causes us the problem that is made super difficult to telework with her.

But it is also wasting valuable time sharing with other children, to develop.

We are anticipating that it will take us to return another month at least.

Thinking that this hotel can end on March 31.

As well we value going to Spain, but I read around the other day that maybe they put it on the red list too.

For now, we have ruled out paying for the hotel.

That is, if, for example, it happens that we are on the verge of losing our residence. Let’s see how to do it, but it would be an extreme case.

If I don’t understand correctly, one cannot be away for more than six months.

We are still within the relatively loose range. So far we’ve only been away for two and a half months.”