First U.S. Service Member Contracts Coronavirus – By Paul D. Shinkman (US News) / Feb 25 2020
The spread of the deadly virus has reached a U.S. military base.
The spread of the coronavirus crossed a notable threshold Tuesday with reports that the first U.S. service member has become infected.
The headquarters overseeing U.S. forces on the Korean Peninsula reported Tuesday evening that a 23-year-old soldier tested positive for the virus and is currently quarantined at his residence near Camp Carroll in southeast South Korea.
U.S. Forces-Korea’s health professionals were, as of Tuesday, retracing the soldier’s travel in recent days to determine if he may have spread the virus to anyone else. The male soldier visited nearby Camp Walker on Monday and Carroll multiple days in the last week.
The Defense Department set the risk level at “high” for troops based on the peninsula, which remained in place as of Tuesday.
U.S. Forces-Korea recommended that military personnel on the peninsula “continue to practice strict proper hygiene procedures as the best ways to prevent the spread of the viruses.”
Lockdowns across Europe as a result of the spread of the virus has prompted the U.S. to prepare for a potential pandemic – the official term used by organizations such as the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to describe an epidemic that has reached global proportions. Health officials have not yet categorized the coronavirus spread as a pandemic.
President Donald Trump asserted Tuesday that the U.S. is in “very good shape” in preparation for a potential spread of the virus – a claim that some health officials doubt. Trump requested $2.5 billion in emergency funds from Congress to prepare for the continued spread of the epidemic.
Continue to article: https://www.usnews.com/news/world-report/articles/2020-02-25/first-us-service-member-contracts-coronavirus
