Pentagon senior leadership for the first time have been directly exposed to COVID-19 and are in quarantine.
The leaders include several members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who met with the Coast Guard vice commandant, Adm. Charles Ray, last week. On Monday, Ray tested positive for COVID-19.
“No Pentagon contacts have exhibited symptoms and we have no additional positive tests to report at this time,” Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statment sent to defense reporters Tuesday.
The Department of Defense is now conducting contact tracing of all participants of the meetings and senior leaders are self-quarantining and working remotely “out of an abundance of caution.”
The leaders exposed include Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley, Vice Chairman John Hyten, Navy Adm. Michael Gilday, Air Force Gen. Charles Brown, Army Gen. James McConville and Space Force Gen. Jay Raymond.
Also exposed was National Guard bureau chief Lt. Gen. Daniel Hokanson, U.S. Cyber Command Commander and NSA Director Gen. Paul Nakasone and assistant commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, Gen. Gary Thomas, as well as members of the Joint Staff, according to a statement from a senior DOD official provided to the Washington Examiner.
“All have been tested with no positive results to report and none are exhibiting any symptoms,” the official said.
The official also confirmed that the last time Milley and Hyten were at the White House was for a Gold Star families event two weeks ago. They did not attend the now-deemed super-spreader event held in the Rose Guard to introduce President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett.
Despite the widespread exposure to senior leaders, the Pentagon sought Tuesday to reinforce calm and continuity.
“There is no change to the operational readiness or mission capability of the U.S. Armed Forces,” Hoffman said. “Senior military leaders are able to remain fully mission capable and perform their duties from an alternative work location.”
Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who was traveling in North Africa last week, began issuing coronavirus guidelines to the department in January. Social distancing, temperature checks and mask wearing became mandatory at the Pentagon in April.
BREAKING: U.S. Coast Guard second-in-command, Admiral Charles Ray, tests positive for #COVID19. pic.twitter.com/SicRxDEEXQ
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) October 6, 2020
They, and other DOD leaders like Gen. Hyten, were in meetings with Coast Guard Vice Commandant Adm Charles Ray, official says. They’ve tested negative so far and report no symptoms, but are quarantining to be safe. Story coming soon to @MilitaryTimes.
— Stephen Loose-eye ? (@StephenLosey) October 6, 2020
This story is breaking and will be updated.
