COVID-19: Updates from Ecuador, the United States, and the World Wide Web

As you are all aware, there is a global novel coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic affecting the majority of nations worldwide, including Ecuador. Fortunately, this is school vacation time in Ecuador, and scholars were not meeting on regular basis at the Starfish Foundation; thus, the impact on our daily operations is minimal at this point in time. Additionally, being isolated in Flor de Bastión works to our advantage as this situation continues to unfold. However, in compliance with directives from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we have closed Starfish for the time being, clubs and other vacation activities are cancelled, and our staff is working from home to prepare for the new school year. In the coming weeks, we will continue to monitor the spread of the virus and evaluate the risk it could pose to our students, staff, and volunteers on site.

Meanwhile, pandemic-related cancellations of U.S. men’s college basketball games has caused us to revamp our annual March bracket challenge. Visit our revamped 2020 bracket challenge webpage to see the details!

Finally, our annual April benefit dinner in Baltimore, Maryland in the U.S. will become a virtual event. More details are forthcoming. We encourage to keep an eye on our benefit dinner webpage over the next several days.