After a weeks-long self-quarantine following her coronavirus coverage in Wuhan, China, Japan, and the United Kingdom, NBC News foreign correspondent Janis Mackey Frayer has reunited with her family. On Wednesday, Mackey Frayer shared a video to Twitter capturing the emotional moment she got to hug her young son after spending 49 days apart.
With work travel, restrictions and quarantine in #China, our family was apart for 49 days. And yes, every one of them was hard — the worry, the decisions, the failed plans, isolation. Our little guy has been brave and resilient… and this was easily the best. hug. ever. @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/UhxqYvFSl7
— Janis Mackey Frayer (@janisfrayer) April 1, 2020
The long-awaited reunion, which was recorded by her husband, a professional photojournalist, came after Mackey Frayer had to undergo a two-week self-quarantine. As NBC News’ foreign correspondent, the 49-year-old had spent weeks covering the coronavirus pandemic on the frontlines from places like China, Japan, and the UK, frequently taking to social media to share eerie images of abandoned streets as people practiced social distancing. Following her coverage, Mackey Frayer had to self-quarantine out of an abundance of caution, with her contact with her family limited to notes posted on her door and watching her husband and son waving to her through a window.
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“When I arrived back to [Beijing] after 5 weeks away, I had two signs on the door to greet me. Top: from the boy who melts our hearts. Below: from the quarantine authorities saying that I cannot set foot outside of the apartment for 14 days,” she captioned a March 22 post. “I can order food and other supplies and one of the building staff will deliver and drop at the door. K & J had to move to a temporary place until my isolation ends March 31st. The cats are already bored of me.”
The following day, Mackey Frayer shared a video of her husband and son, writing, “when you’re in quarantine in [Beijing], and you can’t leave the house, and you haven’t seen or hugged your family since way-too-long-ago… and then you get a phone call to go to the window… and oof, your heart.”
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During Frayer’s attempts to document her quarantine experience, fans and followers of the Canadian journalist praised her for doing her due diligence in an effort to help stop the spread of coronavirus, despite it being hard on her family.
“A responsible thing done by a responsible person,” one Twitter user wrote.
As of Thursday morning, global coronavirus cases had surpassed 962,000, with deaths reaching more than 49,000, according to a Johns Hopkins database reported.
