On March 15, 2020, the US Peace Corps announced it would suspend volunteer activities globally due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Peace Corps Volunteers around the world learned we would have to evacuate our homes in the coming days, leaving behind the lives we’d built over the last months and years.
This decision is historic. In the Peace Corps’ almost 60-year existence, the agency has never evacuated all volunteers at once. I’ve compiled a timeline detailing what the experience was like, starting from the day Colombia discovered its first case of COVID-19.
Friday, March 6
Colombia confirms its first case of COVID-19. A 19-year-old woman arrives from Milan, Italy in Bogotá with the virus. She and all her contacts are home-quarantined, with routine checkups from state officials to ensure compliance.
We receive an email at 4:30 PM saying that Peace Corps Colombia is consulting with the US Embassy to take the necessary precautions, but that the case is isolated. At this point, we are still free to continue traveling in and out of cities, even on airplanes.
Tuesday, March 10
Colombia confirms its third case of COVID-19, with all cases isolated.
At 6:30 PM we receive an email activating the “alert” phase of our emergency action plan or EAP. Our post also restricts volunteer travel to Bogotá and a few other cities that have suspected COVID-19 cases. During pre-service training, we learned about the five phases of the EAP:
Alert***—Volunteers should keep their phones charged and stay alert to their emails for more information about an emerging security situation. No travel restrictions.
Standfast—Volunteers cannot leave their sites or current locations (if away on vacation). The last time we had a standfast was during a national strike on November 21, 2019, when all of Colombia ceased daily activities to protest President Ivan Duque’s actions on a plethora of social issues, including inadequate healthcare. We were also on standfast during Colombia’s national elections in late October.
Shelter in Place—Volunteers cannot leave their homes.
Consolidation—Volunteers must travel to the nearest city for consolidation in a hotel. This helps ensure we’re all safe in one place and are not vulnerable to violence or interruptions in public transportation service that would leave us stuck in our sites during a crisis.
Evacuation—Volunteers must leave the country by the fastest, safest, and most direct route possible.
***At this point we are only in the alert phase, but many volunteers worry for the first time that this action might lead to evacuation.
Wednesday, March 11
Colombia confirms nine cases of COVID-19.
I warn my work partners that we should spend the money we recently received for a USAID grant project—just in case I have to leave the country on short notice. At this point, I didn’t believe we would eventually be evacuated.
Thursday, March 12
A traffic jam on my way to work on March 12.
Peace Corps headquarters in DC issues a ban on all non-mandatory international travel.
President Duque bans gatherings of more than 500 people to slow the spread of the virus.
One case of COVID-19 has arrived in Cartagena, the first coastal city to see the virus. Colombia is starkly divided by region and travel between the interior and the coast is mostly by air; the coast is where most Peace Corps Volunteers live.
Several local universities suspend classes.
Friday, March 13
Shopping for project materials with my work partners.
Colombia confirms 14 cases of COVID-19.
My work partners and I go shopping for tools and equipment to complete our grant project. We spend 90% of our funds. This is important because, in case of evacuation, all unspent grant funds have to be immediately returned.
Saturday, March 14
Colombia confirms 23 cases of COVID-19, eight via local transmission.
Peace Corps headquarters offers all volunteers the option to the option to voluntarily “interrupt our service,” meaning we would return home and receive all the benefits of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. Our country director assures us we are safer in Colombia and should stay to complete our service.
The local secretary of education announces rural schools will close for the next few weeks to evaluate and fix water access problems that prevent students from washing their hands.
Colombia seals its borders with Venezuela as its neighbor in political crisis confirms its first cases of COVID-19. The influx of Venezuelan refugees has already caused a strain on the Colombian healthcare system in the past few years as health resources in Venezuela become scarce.
Across the Atlantic, volunteers in and around Europe begin to evacuate as travel restrictions make it unsafe to stay in their countries of service.
Read Part 2