WASHINGTON — When Bryant and Holly Webb set off for Peru on March 13, the siblings planned to celebrate Holly’s recent graduation from Kansas State University with a hike on the Inca Trail.
Though COVID-19 was a growing concern, the trip seemed feasible, said Naomi Smith, Mr. Webb’s girlfriend and a resident of the South Hills.
“They were very excited for it,” Ms. Smith said. It was “back before anything seemed like it would be that drastic. Nothing had been canceled yet. Their hike was still on. Their flight was still on. So they decided they would try to go anyway.”
The timing turned out to be unfortunate. Peruvian officials imposed dramatic measures just two days later to halt the spread of the virus, closing its borders to international travel. Their hike canceled, the Webbs have been stuck in the city of Cusco, holed up in an Airbnb.
As COVID-19 has prompted a cascade of border closures in recent weeks, many Americans traveling abroad managed to fly home.
Peru appeared to be an exception, providing little warning for foreigners to leave the country before the restrictions took effect and airlines canceled flights. Ms. Smith has joined a growing group of family and friends pressing U.S. officials to take stronger actions to evacuate Americans stuck there.
A widely shared spreadsheet with crowdsourced information lists more than 2,600 Americans who report being stranded in Peru, including 57 Pennsylvanians. That data has been shared with members of Congress and the U.S. State Department.
The State Department has heard from 13,500 Americans in need of help around the world, agency officials told reporters in a conference call Monday.
At least one member of Congress, Rep. Kathy Castor, a Florida Democrat, has publicly called on the Trump administration to do more.
“My office has been trying to contact the @USEMBASSYPERU bc we want to make sure that constituents are safe & medically well!” Ms. Castor tweeted. “Please get [flight] charters, use emergency powers now to bring Americans home, communicate!”
The U.S. embassy in Lima, Peru’s capital city, has stated it is working to charter flights to take Americans back home. As of Monday afternoon, the embassy reported about 600 Americans have departed Peru on those flights.
“The embassy is working with Peruvian authorities to ensure smooth transit for confirmed passengers within quarantine protocols,” the embassy said in a statement.
But delays have been nerve-racking as access to basic essentials like food and medicine becomes difficult. Ms. Smith said the Webb siblings were lucky to be in an Airbnb because Peruvian officials have patrolled hostels to enforce strict quarantine measures.
At the moment, the Webbs have been left out of the flights the U.S. embassy has begun coordinating from Lima, which is several hundred miles from Cusco. Travel within the country is prohibited.
“It’s really hard to get straight answers, unfortunately,” Ms. Smith said. “Our number one hope is to get a plane from Cusco to Lima, so that they may leave from Lima.”
The U.S. embassy, in its statement Monday, advised Americans to “shelter in place until receiving flight information and transportation details from the embassy.”
The spreadsheet circulated among government officials showed nearly 1,000 Americans in Cusco and more than 400 in other areas of Peru.
Lawmakers have generally encouraged Americans traveling abroad to enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, which allows them to receive safety information from American embassies, according to lawmakers’ statements to families.
The office of Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., “has heard from many Pennsylvania residents who have loved ones stranded abroad,” a spokeswoman said in a statement Monday that urged them to enroll in the program.
“We urge Pennsylvania residents to contact our office at 1-866-461-9159 if they are experiencing problems trying to get back to the United States and we will do the best we can to assist them,” the spokeswoman said.
Daniel Moore: dmoore@post-gazette.com, Twitter @PGdanielmoore
First Published: March 24, 2020, 9:45 a.m.
