A spokesman for the Marines said that commanders had enacted “soft shelter-in-place orders” at the bases, Camp Hansen and Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, and that only essential personnel would be permitted to enter and leave those areas.
“Cleaning teams have been dispatched and thorough contact tracing is ongoing to identify and isolate those who may have come in contact with infected personnel,” the spokesman, Major Kenneth Kunze, said in a statement on Saturday.
In one month, cases in the U.S. military have more than doubled, according to Pentagon data, a disturbing surge that mirrors a similar trend across the country.
On Friday, Pentagon statistics reported 16,637 cases in the entire military. On June 10, that number was just 7,408.
A Marine familiar with the situation in Okinawa, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said that it was likely that the virus was transmitted to at least one of the bases after a unit deployed there in mid-June.
It is believed that some in the unit contracted the virus after sneaking off the base for Fourth of July celebrations, according to the Marine as well as a notice sent by a Marine official.
“Okinawans are shocked by what we were told” by the U.S. military about the outbreak, the Okinawa governor, Denny Tamaki, told a news conference, according to The Associated Press. He questioned disease prevention measures taken by the U.S. military.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/12/world/coronavirus-updates.html
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