Americans are anxiously monitoring the developments surrounding the coronavirus outbreak.
Each day brings a new update the public hopes looks like a light at the end of the tunnel.
The U.S. military got hit with a coronavirus surprise it never hoped would come.
In recent days, the Pentagon made two announcements about the coronavirus’s effect on the United States military.
The Pentagon released a statement informing the public that a marine that works in the Department of Defense tested positive for the coronavirus.
“A U.S. Marine stationed at the Pentagon tested positive for COVID-19 on March 24,” the Pentagon statement read.
The Pentagon noted that the marine had not been at work in over two weeks.
“The Marine is in isolation at his home and will undergo further assessment by health professionals. His last day in the Pentagon was March 13,” the Pentagon added.
Finally, the Department of Defense informed Americans that the sick marine’s workspace was thoroughly disinfected and that their doctors were performing intense contact tracing to break up any potential chain of infection.
“His workspace has been cleaned by a Pentagon response team and a thorough contact investigation is underway to mitigate risk and preserve the health of the workforce at the Pentagon,” the statement said.
But that was not the only news out of the Pentagon.
In an interview with Reuters, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced that he would suspend all travel and movement overseas for troops stationed abroad.
Reuters exclusively reports:
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has issued a stop movement order halting all travel and movement abroad for up to 60 days in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus through the ranks of the military, Esper told Reuters on Wednesday.
Esper said in an interview that the order applied to all U.S. forces, civilian personnel and families, but noted that there would be some exceptions. One exception would be the drawdown under way in Afghanistan, which Esper said would continue.
U.S. Defense Secretary Esper is not only looking out for America’s men and women in uniform by keeping them in place, but should any soldiers become infected, they will not travel and spread the virus.
This is the type of responsible action the Trump administration is taking to try and slow the spread of the coronavirus.
And eventually the cases will peak and then decrease.
But that day is still weeks away.
The Trump administration’s social distancing measures are designed to bring the day where infections peak and then decline closer by minimizing the type of in-person interactions that make the spread of the coronavirus more likely.
Over the last several weeks, the American people have experienced disruptions in their lives that they never thought were possible.
Now the United States military is the latest American institution to experience the dangers of the coronavirus outbreak.
Great American Daily will keep you up to date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
