Cabin Fever by Michael Smith & Jonathan Franklin

Author:Michael Smith & Jonathan Franklin [Smith, Michael & Franklin, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2022-06-21T00:00:00+00:00

MARCH 27, EARLY MORNING

UK Ambassador’s Residence, Panama City, Panama

It’s not going to work; the Panamanians simply can’t allow the ships to transit the canal, thought Ambassador Potter as he drafted a letter back to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Crisis Team in London. The massive team, overseen by the foreign secretary, government ministers, and senior officials, had been stood up in London to deal with the flood of consular cases caused by the pandemic. Daily reports provided a grim tally of the surging number of cases: UK nationals were gravely ill, COVID-19 the suspected culprit. “Everyone was saying ‘Great job getting supplies from ship to ship,’ and I felt emotionally and physically exhausted,” Potter recalled. “We had failed to help passengers either disembark or transit through the canal.”

For days, the diplomats had been working every angle they could think of to persuade the Panamanian government to let the cruise ships through the canal. They’d pressed their case via diplomatic WhatsApp chats, phone calls, letters, and video conferences. (Lockdowns and curfews prevented meetings in person.) Ministers spoke with their Panamanian counterparts, but they’d run into a seemingly insurmountable barrier. The cruise line had confirmed COVID was aboard the Zaandam, and Panama made it clear that no ship would pass with the virus aboard.

“I was heartbroken that people were dying or seriously ill,” Potter recalled. “I felt a responsibility. I felt that there was more that we could do.”

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