Dispatches from the field show how the U. Foreign Service works for the American people. The novel coronavirus has presented a unique challenge to the U. Foreign Service. The virus spread widely before being officially recognized as a global threat and pandemic. As Washington scrambled to develop guidance and manage the response, U. Foreign Service personnel posted overseas and in Washington, D. We reached out to the field to ask how the Foreign Service is responding to the COVID pandemic and what impact it is having on individuals, posts and work.
Here is a selection of the stories and photos we received. My husband and I heard the call for consular volunteers to assist with evacuating American citizens out of Wuhan. We were already in Chengdu and hopped on a plane to Seoul to meet the evacuation team and plane. In the first and only planning meeting we attended, Dr. We crossed the international date line three times in just 30 hours, effectively experiencing the longest Feb.
We assisted in repatriating more than people, including 40 Canadians. During the flight, we had to be consular officers, Chinese-language translators, customs negotiators, baggage handlers, flight attendants and medical assistants.
On landing in the United States, we entered quarantine for two weeks and were grateful for the time to catch up on sleep. Interestingly, of the 10 consular officers on the Wuhan rescue mission, four were from the th A and on first tours as consular officers in China. We had been assigned to Mission China and had all gone through the uniquely intense life that is learning Chinese at the Foreign Service Institute. On arriving in Seoul, I knew the mission would be successful because those in my cohort had also leapt at the opportunity to go into Wuhan.
My husband and I took this picture of ourselves [above] after a fit of laughter over getting on a plane mid-mission without knowing to what country we were flying. Alan Eaton is a management-coned officer posted to Chengdu, China. As my wife and I stroll through the idyllic Fort Vancouver National Historic Reserve near our home in Southwest Washington state, I find myself instinctively going into degree mode, constantly looking around and behind me.
