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For Peace Corps evacuees, there wasn't even time for goodbye

Kelsea Mensh, Holly Balcom
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Holly Balcom, 54, hugs her daughter Kelsea Mensh, 22, as they reunite at their home in Dumfries, Va., Wednesday, April 1, 2020, after Mensh, who had served a year in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic, finished her 2 week quarantine period. After evacuating her from her post, the Peace Corps put Mensh up in a hotel in her hometown to self-isolate so that she wouldn't cause any risk to her mother, who is a cancer survivor and has viral induced asthma. Though she is grateful to have been evacuated, "I didn't get to say goodbye," says Mensh, who is very worried about the community she had to leave in the Dominican Republic, "I told my mother that in tears and we both started to cry. She said, 'I didn't get to say goodbye to the children here either.'" Balcom is a fourth grade teacher. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Kelsea Mensh, Holly Balcom
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DUMFRIES, Va. -- The Peace Corps has evacuated about 7,000 volunteers from 60 countries because of the global pandemic.

Upon returning to the U.S., volunteers were asked to self-quarantine for 14 days.

One volunteer says the quick evacuation left her no time to say goodbye.

Peace Corps Director Jody Olsen says that the decision to suspend operations was difficult and that the organization is already planning for the time when operations can resume.

She said volunteers who want to return to their host country will get “expedited consideration."

Depend on CBS 6 News and WTVR.com for the most complete coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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