Est. 50K Americans caught abroad by CV outbreak

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The Washington Post has a long article today on the halting efforts of the U.S. govt to help an estimated 50,000 Americans stranded abroad by the CV pandemic to make it back home. And the State Department, which is leading the federal government's effort, is drawing criticism from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers for its slowness and poor responses in dealing with stranded tourists/expats. A lot of talk in the article about stuff in Peru and other South American countries, but no specific mention of Thailand.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/global-evacuation-crisis-tests-the-state-department--and-the-patience-of-congress/2020/03/27/5cec6436-7038-11ea-96a0-df4c5d9284af_story.html

 

Quote

Global evacuation crisis tests the State Department — and the patience of Congress

Faced with a rising number of complaints from Americans stranded abroad, State Department officials tried to quell those concerns last Sunday in a conference call with Senate staffers speaking on behalf of their anxious and exasperated constituents.

 

The officials opened the conversation with a breakdown of U.S. efforts to bring Americans home, but once the call turned to questions, the conversation grew tense, according to several aides present for the call and audio reviewed by The Washington Post.

...

The effort to bring Americans home has created a rare unity of purpose among Democrats and Republicans in Congress, who have been flooded with phone calls from desperate constituents — more than 50,000 are still seeking help, according to the U.S. government.

 

 

I've heard of no offers of direct assistance here in Thailand from the U.S. Embassy/State Department, other than emailing Americans lately with lists of the few still remaining available international commercial airline flights out of Thailand that can connect back to the U.S.

 

Edited March 28, 2020 by TallGuyJohninBKK