From Military.com:
“COVID-19
Cases Reaching Record Highs in Military, Among Veterans”
The Department
of Veterans Affairs is seeing a resurgence of patients with COVID-19, with the
number of active cases at 6,454 as of Tuesday, exceeding the record high of
6,424 set July 20. Meanwhile, the military services continue to struggle to
contain the coronavirus, with the seven-day average of new cases across the
Defense Department at 703 as of Oct. 30 and inching toward the record seven-day
average of 806 set July 22. In addition to a surge in cases, VA facilities are
seeing an increase in deaths: 4,060 as of Tuesday, with nearly 700 of those in
the past month.
At the DoD,
deaths among family members, civilian employees and contractors have also risen
in the past month. But they are nowhere near the rate of veterans, who are
considered to be at high risk for more severe cases of COVID-19 because of age
and underlying health conditions. In the past month, 11 more patients
affiliated with the DoD have died, bringing the total to 110. Only one of those
deaths was an active-duty service member. Seven members of the Reserve and
National Guard have died, along with eight military family members, 68 civilian
employees and 26 contractors. The new figures reflect a third surge in the
pandemic that began for the DoD on Feb. 25, with the diagnosis of a military
family member in South Korea; the VA saw its first patient March 17. Across the
U.S., the number of new cases per day continues to exceed records set earlier
in the pandemic. On Monday, the number of new cases was 93,581, bringing the
U.S. cumulative total to more than 9.4 million.
Confirmed
deaths in the U.S. from COVID-19 have reached 231,990. But factor in the number
of excess deaths that have occurred this year compared to the number of deaths
last year -- an indication of additional COVID-19 deaths not accurately counted
or related to a health crisis for which a patient didn't seek emergency care
because of the pandemic -- and more than a quarter-million American deaths are
likely attributable to the pandemic. Many public health experts believe the
recent increases are evidence of a prolonged first wave of the pandemic. "It's
kind of semantics," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Oct. 26 at the virtual Yahoo Finance
All Markets Summit. "You want to call the third wave or an extended first
wave. No matter how you look at it, it's not good news."
As with most of
the country, VA cases are spiking in the Midwest, with Minnesota and Wisconsin
seeing some of the highest numbers of active cases. VA facilities in Colorado,
Ohio, Missouri, Texas, North Dakota and several other states each reported more
than 100 active cases as of Tuesday.
The DoD does
not disclose where it is experiencing outbreaks; however, U.S. Forces Korea has
had a minimum of 278 cases in the recent surge, including at least 18 who
tested positive after arriving in South Korea from overseas. The increase has
prompted the Defense Department to begin delivering rapid testing to passengers
transported to overseas military installations aboard Patriot Express flights
leaving from Baltimore Washington International Airport and Seattle Tacoma
International Airport. As of last week, two sailors tested positive on the
carrier Theodore Roosevelt and several Marines with the 15th Marine
Expeditionary Unit, deployed to the northern Pacific with the Navy's 3rd Fleet,
are in quarantine after testing positive, according to a weekly report from the
Centers for Strategic and International Studies. As of Nov. 2, 85,301
cumulative cases of COVID-19 have been recorded by the Defense Department,
including 58,801 service members, more than 13,000 civilian employees, 8,407
dependents and 5,374 contractors. The number of cases of COVID-19 in the U.S.
Army since the outbreak began is nearing 22,000; the Marine Corps has had 7,100
cases; the Navy, 12,585 cases; the Air Force, 9,278 cases; the National Guard,
6,722 cases; and assorted DoD agencies, 408 cases.
^ The US
Military and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs need to do much more to
protect the men, women and children that they employ and support. ^
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