Local

Seattle couple riding out COVID-19 pandemic in Ecuador

ECUADOR — When travel bans tied to COVID-19 started being implemented, Americans around the globe scrambled to get home.

In mid-March, KIRO 7 heard from an Edmonds woman who made it out of Quito on one of the final flights out of the country – the ticket cost $6,000 and got her as far as Texas.

Others, including Zach and Alex Edwards, decided it was better to shelter in place.

“It seems like there’s more pros to stay than to go at this point,” said Zach Edwards, via a Zoom video chat from his new “home” for the coming weeks.

The Edwards were preparing to leave when the travel ban came down earlier this month. They, like many Americans, wanted to ensure they could safely get home.

They had a few issues that ultimately made them decide it was safer to stay. First, it didn’t appear that the humanitarian flights would allow them to bring their dogs onboard. Second, they were 10 hours away from Quito, where the government was giving them advice to fly out of – with a curfew in place between the hours of 2 p.m. 5 a.m. it didn’t seem like it was worth the risk to the Edwards.

“They closed off all the borders, so even just trying to get to the airport was this whole complicated mess,” Alex Edwards explained. “Everything was forbidden.”

International headlines describe a dire situation in major cities such as Quito and Guayaquil. A story published in Reuters on Tuesday afternoon described an inability to collect dead bodies to give humane burials to COVID-19 victims, let alone remove them from family homes in a reasonable amount of time.

The growing concern in the country’s larger hubs played into their own decisions. Locals advised them to avoid the Guaya region, which jumped from 100 cases to 1,000 cases over several days when the mad dash to exit the country began.

“We know this is difficult,” explained the U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador Michael Fitzpatrick in a Facebook message to Americans earlier this week.

Americans in Ecuador are sent daily updates from the U.S. government officials still in the country. Last week, six U.S. State Department flights left Quito to return 625 more Americans home.

The Edwards tell KIRO 7 News that at this point they feel safer staying put.

“We have an apartment with a great landlord, yard and plenty of access to food,” Alex said. “It simply was not worth risking a trip to the airport, not make it, and then not be allowed back to Montañita.”

That said, the couple said they still have moments when they realize how uncertain things are. Between walking their dogs, passing downtime with yoga and reading updates of what’s happening back in the U.S., they’re making due with what’s available to them. Their saving grace? The couple was expecting to move to L.A. for a new job opportunity – meaning before they left they had already packed up their belongings, and were preparing for an extended vacation before ultimately leaving Seattle.