Friday the 13th - Coronavirus cuts short stay in Ethiopia

It started on a Wednesday, March 11, with a level 3 travel advisory issued by the State Department. Things really moved fast on Friday the 13th. The first confirmed case was reported in Ethiopia (there were many rumors of many cases before that).
Early on Friday the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia urged all Fulbright Scholars, English Language Fellows and Ambassador's Distinguished Scholars to return to the U.S. I asked if leaving was mandatory. No, but it may become mandatory later they said. I met with some colleagues Friday over dinner. They seemed certain leaving was the best thing to do. We were already being heckled by some Ethiopians with "Ferengi Coronavirus". One had difficulty getting a Bijaj. To be fair, most Ferengi in Bahir Dar have just come from Europe, already a hot spot for the virus. Some people just covered their mouths as they walked by to protect themselves.
By late Friday night the recommendation to leave had been turned into a mandatory evacuation. It was late Monday before we had our plane tickets to Addis Ababa for Tuesday night. The airline office had been packed. The website down. Then tickets back home on Thursday. But we had no idea whether these travel plans would be realized before something else came up. By early this week we learned that all U.S. non-essential personnel have been pulled back from all countries. Things were happening too quickly.
It seems backward. Ethiopia has just started to experience the virus. The U.S. has thousands of cases, growing exponentially. But Ethiopia had only one hospital in a country of 100 million people willing to take Coronavirus patients. And that hospital in Addis Ababa was not deemed suitable for such treatment by the Embassy. The alternatives for health care for the virus and other problems, dwindled as borders closed,
We came back to nearly empty airports and lock downed communities. But as we left Ethiopia it was beginning its own lock down. Schools closed for two weeks, religious ceremonies discouraged at the least. This will be hard for such a communal and poor country. I wish them the best in responding to the virus.