The number of positive COVID-19 tests in the U.S. military has increased overnight by more than a dozen to 67 as the Department of Defense continues to test personnel worldwide.
“We’re continuing to test people who need to be tested,” a Pentagon spokesperson told the Washington Examiner Friday. “We don’t have a lack of tests.”
DOD reported a new total Friday of 124 positive COVID-19 tests for active-duty military, civilian, dependent, and contractors, an increase of 43 from Thursday’s numbers.
In addition, four patients have reportedly recovered, and no deaths were reported.
Currently, one service member is hospitalized, and six nonmilitary personnel remain hospitalized.
A second Air Force airlift mission delivered 500,000 additional test swabs to the Department of Health and Human Services overnight, bringing that total to 1 million.
The Navy medicine corps staff began reporting to the hospital ships USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy Friday. Both ships are readying for deployment to the East and West coasts, respectively.
Friday morning on Fox & Friends, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he had spoken to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and the hospital ship Comfort would be ready for deployment from Norfolk to New York by early April.
He also said the Army Corps of Engineers was sent to New York to work with the governor to contract and renovate identified sites such as college dorms or hotels for extra hospital bed space.
“This is all about freeing up bed space for either patients who are identified as having coronavirus or are on the back end recovering from coronavirus,” Esper said.
Esper said he also spoke to the governors of both Washington state and California, and the hospital ship Mercy would be deployed from San Diego to either one of those two states early next week.
The defense secretary said that the priority after assuring that troops and their families were safe had been contributing to President Trump’s whole-of-government effort to contain the virus.
“We are contributing to this effort by adding manpower, medical equipment, supplies, our own researchers who are pursuing vaccines and therapeutics, the Army Corps of Engineers,” he said. “We now have over 4,000 Guardsmen in 31 states deployed helping governors and the people of those states.”
U.S. Northern Command also continues to quarantine 1,400 passengers from the Grand Princess cruise ship across four military installations nationwide.
