The Foreign Service Journal, May 2020

16 MAY 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL TALKING POINTS A March 29 photo shows U.S. Mission Ecuador staff, including Ambassador Michael Fitzpatrick (front left), at Mariscal Sucre International Airport, where they are assisting U.S. citizens trying to return to the United States. The Foreign Service Responds to the Coronavirus Pandemic U .S. embassies and Foreign Service personnel and their families across the globe have been struggling to man- age and adjust to the massive disrup- tions caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic, while continuing the vital work of diplomacy and serving Ameri- can citizens overseas. In March, many countries began to close their borders and airlines can- celed countless international flights as the coronavirus spread, and country after country began seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases. Hardest hit initially were Italy, Spain and the United States. Lawmakers postponed congressional visits overseas. In mid-March, the State Department authorized voluntary, no-fault curtail- ment for employees in any country considered to present a high risk of exposure to COVID-19. It also autho- rized voluntary no-fault curtailment from any country or region for those at higher risk of a poor outcome if exposed to the coronavirus. Numerous FSOs and their families have been, and continue to be, faced with the decision of whether to scramble to return to the United States—which surpassed China for the most reported cases of COVID-19 by late March—or stay at post in countries that might offer inadequate medical care. Complicating their decision-making was the fact that lodging in the Washing- ton, D.C., area is hard to find, as many places closed their doors due to health concerns and the shuttering economy. The State Department on April 1 said it had evacuated 6,000 U.S. diplomats and family members since the start of the outbreak, about half its overseas U.S.EMBASSYQUITO presence, according to an April 1 Wall Street Journal report. Embassies dealt with the departures of many of their personnel amid what a March 20 CNN broadcast called unclear operational guidance fromWashington. Meanwhile, embassy staff were manag- ing evacuations of thousands of Ameri- cans who found themselves stranded in countries that abruptly closed borders and cut off international travel options. On April 6, the State Department said it had coordinated the repatriation of 44,569 Americans from 78 countries since Jan. 29. For another indication of the volume of work State is handling, the March 30 Politico reported that in the nine days since March 21, State had received 15,000 calls regarding the pandemic. Diplomats were reminded, too, that they are not immune to the dangers of COVID-19. On March 24, Steven Dick, 37, the deputy head of the British embassy in Budapest, died after contracting the coro- navirus. The New York Times reported on April 4 that three State Department employees—all locally engaged staff— had died from the coronavirus. By April 4, 154 State Department employees had tested positive for the virus, and more than 3,500 were symptomatic and in self- isolation, the Times reported. In South Africa, according to a March 20 Washington Post report, U.S. diplo- mats were concerned about their own possible exposure to the coronavirus when Ambassador Lana Marks—who had attended a dinner at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida with Brazilian officials who later tested posi- tive for COVID-19—returned to work at the embassy. After a town hall meeting in which diplomats raised their concerns, and Contemporary Quote I think it’s fair to say that the corona crisis hasn’t had the same sort of rapid coordinated international response that, say, we saw in the 2008 financial crisis. But that said, the American government for G7 and the Saudi Arabian government for G20 have managed to bring leaders and health ministers, finance ministers, foreign ministers together to work on a coordinated set of actions, all to keep the global economy going; to step up work on vaccines; to help the U.N., and particularly the World Health Organization, get detailed help where it needs to go; and then also to work on repatriation. —U.K. Ambassador to the United States Dame Karen Pierce, responding to a question, about global leadership on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” March 31.