What would Sargent Shriver do?

The Peace Corps was founded in 1961 when I was 11. The New Frontier. Heartthrob president - and an Irish Catholic from Massachusetts to boot. Do gooding. I was immediately all gung-ho. And for a while there, I had an occasional romantic notion that someday I would join. 

That never happened. Too lazy. Too scared. Not that interested to begin with. I don't do well in the heat. The idea of crapping in a slit trench for a couple of years - no thanks. 

But I've always admired those who did join. 

I've known a few folks who were Peace Corps volunteers. One person - a very sweet fellow from the neighborhood - joined. He was sent to somewhere in Africa, but I don't think he stuck it out. Not sure what happened. As I said, he was a very sweet guy. (I used to babysit for him.)

I have a writer friend who as in the Peace Corps in Romania, which wasn't an option when I was of the age of the typical volunteer - mostly recent college grads. Back in the day, volunteers were stationed largely in Africa and Latin America.  Not that all volunteers were kids. I remember when Jimmy Carter's mother went in at the great old age of 68. I remembered her as being in her 80's when she joined, but I looked it up, and she was just 68. At the time she went in, I thought she was ridiculously (but admirably) old to be jaunting off to India to do nursing. 68, huh?

Not that there's any danger of me joining. A) I've grown more fond not less fond of creature comforts as I've gotten older. B) Because of the pandemic, the Peace Corps is recalling all of the current seven thousand volunteers who've been out there doing good in 61 countries and laying them off. So there's no openings, anyway.

In the grand, macro scheme of things  - with thousands upon thousands - make that millions upon millsions - losing their jobs, and some forecasters predicting that the unemployment rate will hit 20% - those 7,300 Peace Corps volunteers who're now without work is not really all that material. A blip on the radar. A drop in the bucket. 

That's, of course, only if you're not one of those abruptly called-home volunteers. 

And, given that they're not eligible to collect unemployment insurance, they might not even find themselves counted when the numbers are totaled up.

All things considered - and wouldn't that be a nifty name for a radio news show; remind me to run it by the folks at NPR - bringing the volunteers home at this time is probably the right thing to do. I'm sure the Corps was worried about an outbreak in a country with poor healthcare infrastructure. Look what's happening in Italy, which has excellent healthcare. In a dreadfully poor country... Shudder, shudder. And I'm sure that there was concern that eventual border shut downs - theirs or ours - might maroon someone in a place they no longer wanted to be (and, perhaps, where they were no longer wanted).

Still, while it might be prudent to bring them home, it seems kind of heartless to cut them off at the legs. Their stipends were pretty puny to begin with, but now they're nothing. Oh, and it's not like there are many places hiring these days. I guess those with medical training will be able to find work, especially once the doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists currently manning the frontlines of the crisis start dropping. And Amazon, FedEx and UPS are going to need a lot more drivers as those suffering from shopping withdrawal who are still employeed start spending some of those boring at-home office hours buying a ton of stuff online. 

But this is not an environment that anyone will want to be job hunting in. 

It's not going to be completely awful for them, financially. Returning Peace Corps volunteers, while they can't collect unemployment - they were, after all, volunteers - do get a readjustment allowance of $475 for each month they served. If I read the fine print, I think that someone with over a year in will be grossed up to a full two years, while those who are in their first year, will receive an allowance as if they'd served a full year. So not great, but not terrible-terrible - and a lot more severance than a lot of those who've already been pinkslipped are getting. Still, it's not going to go all that far, unless you're able to move back in with mom and dad for the duration. Which won't work for everyone - think of Miss Lillian Carter. And the allowance will be soon exhausted. Unemployment insurance pays for a good long while (at least in enlightened states like Massachusetts). And depending on overall economic conditions, it may be extended for a good while longer. 

Healthcare will also be an issue, given that the returning volunteers are only being kept on their Peace Corps insurance for a couple of months.

So what might we do with and for the volunteers?

I'm guessing that most of them are hard workers, used to improvising, know how to negotiate harsh conditions and uncertainty, have developed some useful skillsets. And they've got to be plenty brave. Not to mention committed to the common good and not looking for a cushy life. Too bad we can't just use any of the Peace Corps volunteers who want to stay in and deploy them to serve in different capacities for the duration. 

Surely, someone who helped set up a micro business in Namibia, teaching village women to sew tote bags can help out with production of PPE - masks, gowns. Surely, someone who figured out how to get potable water to a town in the hills of Jamaica can help set up a field hospital.

The volunteers could live in now-freed up college dorms, collect whatever their monthly stipend would have been, and keep their insurance coverage.

What would Sargent Shriver - JFK's brother-in-law, the driving force behind and first director of the Peace Corps - do?

I think Sargent Shriver would be all gung-ho!

Let's welcome back these Peace Corps volunteers with open arms - as long as they stay 6 feet away - and tell them that we could use them just about now.

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There's some interesting info in the Peace Corps FAQ for returnees. Given that Trump is touting chloroquine as a potential miracle cure for COVID-19, I found this one particularly relevant:

Can I take Chloroquine to prevent COVID-19?

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there are no antiviral drugs recommended or licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for COVID-19. Chloroquine has not been approved by the FDA for use in the treatment of COVID-19.

Furthermore, experts at Sanford University and University of Alabama Birmingham have cautioned that “inappropriate/overuse of Chloroquine could rapidly lead to viral mutation and resistance.”are being dismissed.

"Viral mutation and resistance," eh?  But, hey, who you gonna listen to, experts in the field or a really stable genius?