Utah Couple’s Dream Italian Vacation Canceled After Coronavirus Cases Spike

DRAPER, Utah – A Utah couple’s dream vacation to Italy was canceled due to a major outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Candice and Spencer Cheney were scheduled to fly to Italy next Monday. However, they learned their flight was canceled Sunday night after the number of virus cases in the European country jumped from three to more than 200 over the weekend.

Nearly 100,000 people in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, whose capital is Milan, have been forced into quarantine due to the outbreak.

“Definitely, really really sad,” Candice Cheney said. “I’m almost in shock. Oh my gosh, I can’t believe it.”

Cheney said they’ve been planning their 16-day vacation for nearly a year and bought their airline tickets in August.

“We found a really good deal and we just pulled the trigger and it was our 18–year anniversary on Feb.22,” she told KSL TV.

Cheney said she’s never traveled out of the country before and Italy is a place she’s been wanting to go since childhood.

The couple is also having to deal with the cost of rearranging their Airbnb stays, car rentals and hotels.

Cheney had also paid and made arrangements for three different family members to fly into town to help care for their four children during the trip.

Despite the news, she also said the last thing she would want to do is get stranded in another country because of the virus outbreak.

“I much rather be safe than sorry,” Cheney said. “I don’t know if it would be safe to take that risk because I do have four kids. Going there and getting stuck there and contracting the virus.”