With the number of Coronavirus infections in its ranks increasing to about 22,000, the US military has emerged as a potential source of transmission locally and externally, according to military and local public health officials.
The rate of infection among soldiers has tripled over the past six weeks, and cases are increasing more at military bases in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, and Texas, all of which have experienced a rise in confirmed infections.
Externally, the US Marine Corps reported approximately 100 cases at a base in Okinawa, Japan, which angered local officials, and recorded 98 injuries among US soldiers deployed in South Korea.
In war zones in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, casualties have increased significantly, but - according to a New York Times report - have not been reported, American forces have faced outbreaks within their ranks.
Spreading foci
Health officials fear that the army’s bases are hotbeds of the disease. In Chattahooche County, Georgia, in the southeastern United States, which is a highly populated region with high rates of infection, local officials have tracked the outbreaks and found that they are related to the Fort Benning base, as officials in California witnessed North Carolina has links between military installations and local communities.
The increase in HIV cases - especially abroad - raises questions about military safety precautions, as the Pentagon struggles to contain the epidemic and address the logistical problems it has created, such as mitigating units that have been stuck abroad for longer than expected.
"It is an amazing challenge. With our inability to control the virus nationwide, I think we will see countries that may not welcome the deployment of American forces to anything but basic missions," said Jason Dempsey - a senior fellow at the New American Security Center.
An environment for outbreaks
The increase in the number of casualties in military units reflects the situation in the rest of the United States. As of last Monday, the number of casualties was close to 22,000, compared to 7,408 on June 10, according to the Pentagon.
Three service members have died since last March, including a sailor on the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, and more than 440 service personnel have been transferred to the hospital.
Health policy researcher Lindsay Leninger says the military bases represent a demographic mix of youth and the elderly in a dense institutional environment, "making the virus rapidly spreadable, like wildfire."
Unfortunately, she continues, both the density and the demographics put the military bases at high risk of outbreaks, and since many of the bases' employees belong to the host communities, the outbreak of disease among them makes it very easy to spread it in society.
Export the virus
In a recent conference call with reporters, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy noticed sharp increases in cases in Fort Benning and Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, both of which are large infantry training schools, and acknowledged that the military may have to reopen basic training sites too early and who Without adequate protection.
He added that the army was studying whether to change its test protocols in the epidemic, extend the isolation period for 14 days, or increase the frequency of testing the virus before sending the soldiers out.
As the only country to deploy military power in dozens of countries around the world, the United States may be a potential source of export of the virus, as well as the potential to facilitate domestic proliferation in areas already flooded with large numbers of new infections.