From Military.com:
“You Are Now
Free(r) to Move Around the Country: Half of Bases Lift COVID Travel
Restrictions”
More than half
of U.S. military installations have now lifted travel restrictions imposed to
try to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. As of March 1, according to the Defense
Department's latest statistics, 117 of 231 military installations, or 51%, have
lifted their constraints.
The Marine
Corps and Air Force have lifted restrictions on the greatest proportion of
their installations. Out of 17 Marine Corps facilities, 15 have had travel
restrictions lifted, or 88%. And the Air Force has lifted restrictions on 58 of
80 installations, or nearly 73% of its bases and Air Reserve stations.
The Navy
is the most cautious of the services, with travel restrictions lifted on just
seven out of 62 installations, or 11%.
And the Army
has lifted restrictions on a little more than half its installations -- 36
of 68.
Three Defense
Finance and Accounting Service locations have not had their travel restrictions
lifted, but they've been ended for the Pentagon itself. Twelve installations
lifted restrictions this week, according to the latest update, but one --
Patrick Space Force Base, located east of Orlando, Florida -- actually
reinstituted them. Installations lifting restrictions in the last week include
Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii; McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas;
Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada; Eglin Air Force Base, Florida; Ellsworth Air
Force Base, South Dakota; and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
Before an
installation's travel restrictions can be lifted, the state or country in which
it is located must show a 14-day declining trend in symptoms and cases of
COVID-19, and there can be no stay-at-home order in place. The installation
then must meet additional criteria, including a health protection condition, or
HPCON, level below Charlie, and essential services have to be available. Once
those first steps are met, a senior leader such as a chief management officer,
service secretary or combatant commander can approve lifting travel
restrictions. Service members or civilians at an installation with no
restrictions in place may then travel freely to another location that also has
had its restrictions lifted, according to the military's update. But if either
installation has not yet met the criteria for lifting restrictions, travelers
will need an exemption or waiver before proceeding.
^ It’s
interesting to see how Military Bases, Soldiers and their families are going
through the pandemic since not much attention is put on them. ^
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