Pentagon considering options about new coronavirus for upcoming PCS season
A moving truck is unloaded as a family moves into their new home.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
By CAITLIN M. KENNEY | STARS AND STRIPES Published: March 4, 2020
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon will decide how to prepare for the upcoming military moving season with the outbreak of the Coronavirus based on whether the new virus is still active, a military doctor said Wednesday.
Because the outbreak is from a new Coronavirus, health officials still do not know whether it’s seasonal, according to U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul Friedrichs, the Joint Staff surgeon, who spoke to reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday about the Defense Department’s current response to the outbreak.
The primary season for service members and their families to move to domestic or international bases is from late spring through early fall.
“If this tapers off… in the next six or eight weeks, then it’s not really going to be a huge issue in the summer. It’ll potentially come back in the fall and then we’ll have to deal with that in the fall,” Friedrichs said. “If it doesn’t taper off, then it absolutely becomes an issue. But this is part of that learning that we’re all going through.”
Friedrichs said the Defense Department is looking at “a range of options but it’ll really depend on what happens with the virus. And it’ll depend on where the location is.”
If the virus is everywhere like the flu, Friedrichs said, “it’s not necessarily going to be as big of a challenge to come up with country-specific policies. But I think we’ll know more in a couple of weeks.”
The Defense Department is providing guidance about the coronavirus and empowering local commanders to make decisions about their own communities, such as restricting voluntary nonessential travel to areas with outbreaks, Friedrichs said.
All new military recruits will be screened for the virus before entering basic training. Recruits will be asked questions on whether they have visited areas with documented cases, if the recruit has been in contact with someone who has been diagnosed, and whether they have any symptoms such as fever, cough or shortness of breath.
In the United States there have been 11 deaths from the virus as of Wednesday. There have been over 93,000 confirmed cases of Coronavirus worldwide, with Argentina, Chile, Poland and Ukraine reporting new cases, according to the World Health Organization.
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