Every day, he talks to his younger brother, a teacher in South Korea, and his father, a widower in Minnesota. They compare notes. What his brother’s country was going through a month ago is what his father is facing now. Meanwhile, a semblance of society has reemerged in South Korea.
The U.S. estimates there are 50,000 Americans stranded abroad as nations suspend commercial flights. The State Department can’t repatriate all and is consulting the Department of Defense to arrange military flights for those in harm’s way.
“I’m just trying to hunker down,” Timm says. “As someone who’s in relatively good health, I feel like it would be unfair and a little immoral to use up U.S. resources when there are people who actually have preexisting medical conditions or people in ill health who need to get home a lot quicker than me.”
Besides, as a nomad, he has no home of his own. If he had to pass through multiple airports to get stateside, he couldn’t stay with his 68-year-old father.
As he waits out the virus, Timm’s making Instagram stories and YouTube videos, watching Netflix, and checking up on friends. “Just trying to hold on to whatever communal thread we have.”
Read more about Brent in San Pedro http://www.citypages.com/news/coronavirus-strands-minnesota-tourists-in-paradise/569204991