Coronavirus (COVID-19)

2019 Novel Coronavirus, or COVID-19, is a new respiratory virus first identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Current symptoms reported for patients have included mild to severe respiratory illness with fever, cough, and shortness of breath. The virus attacks the lungs in humans.

According to the CDC, anyone contracting a respiratory illness shouldn’t assume COVID-19. It is far more likely to be a more common malady. However, anyone with fever, cough, or difficulty breathing, should seek medical care right away and notify your medical provider immediately of your travel history. Military personnel and families at Fort Gordon may contact the Eisenhower Army Medical Center COVID-19 24/7 Hotline: 706-787-8864.

According to the CDC, those who are ill with COVID-19 but not sick enough to be hospitalized should follow CDC guidance on how to reduce the risk of spreading their illness to others. People who are mildly ill with COVID-19 are able to self-isolate at home during their illness. Others who are more seriously ill may require hospitalization. Service members must ensure they keep their Chain of Command informed and receive guidance from them.

Isolation is when an individual, or group of individuals are separated from healthy individuals to prevent the spread of a communicable disease. Individuals are selected for separation if they are infected or reasonably believed to be infected by COVID-19.

Quarantine is when individuals or groups of individuals have been exposed to COVID-19 but are not yet ill. Quarantine involves separation from those who are healthy to prevent the spread of the virus.

Person-to-person transmission is believed to occur mainly via respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes, similar to how influenza viruses and other respiratory pathogens spread. At this time, it’s unclear if a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose or possibly their eyes. The COVID-19 virus is not stable in the environment, limiting the ability to spread on surfaces, and the virus is not known to infect domesticated animals.

All personnel should adhere to CDC guidelines on the preventing the spread of respiratory viruses like the flu and COVID-19. Prevention guidelines include:

1. Avoid close contact with people who are sick/stay at home if you are sick. Coordinate with your commander/supervisor for sick leave.
2. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
3. Cover your cough or sneeze and throw tissue in trash when done.
4. Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds each time, especially after going to the bathroom, before and after eating, and after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing.
5. Clean and disinfect frequently touched items or surfaces using household spray or wipes.

Clean all “high-touch” surfaces, such as counters, tabletops, doorknobs, bathroom fixtures, toilets, phones, keyboards, tablets, etc. Use a household cleaning spray or wipe, according to the label instructions. Wash laundry thoroughly, to include jackets and coats. There is much more information on the CDC website.

We must maintain our readiness. That being said, we are balancing training operations with our actions to protect the health of our force, mitigating the risk of COVID-19 while ensuring our troops are trained for the fight. We are confident we can do both.

In an effort to observe social distancing (limiting close/physical contact with others to help mitigate the spread of illness), the Department of the Army has made the decision to cease certain military training.

This guidance includes:

• Combative training that requires hands-on/physical contact between student Soldiers and instructors
• Army training events and competitions that will have large crowds or groups of people in a single area
• All events or competitions that wish to proceed as planned must have higher level Army senior leadership approval before executing plans
• Reserve Officers’ Training Corps graduation and commissioning ceremonies, in coordination with the university and college
• Expect changes to Cadet Summer Training to be announced

Effective March 13, Headquarters, Department of the Army made the decision to stop all travel of Soldiers, family and employees unless critical to the Army’s top-line missions. This guidance includes:

• Soldiers who are on permanent change of station (PCS) orders, to and from.
• Soldiers conducting professional military education (PME)
• Foreign Military Student training and travel restrictions.
• Soldiers,Depart of the Army Civilians (DACs), and their dependents who have signed out of installation and departed the losing duty station will continue CONUS PCS movement. All others will hold in place until further notice. Personnel who have not left the local area will sign back in with their losing units.

DoD also restricted official domestic travel starting March 16 for its service members, civilians and family members in order to limit the spread of COVID-19. Note the following:

• The domestic travel restriction does not affect those who must travel for medical treatment.
• Those who have already begun their official travel may continue to their final destination. Individuals whose TDY ends during the period of restricted movement may return home.
• Soldiers,Department of the Army civilian personnel (DACs), and their dependents who have signed out of installation and departed the losing duty station will continue CONUS PCS movement. All others will hold in place until further notice.Personnel who have not left the local area will sign back in with their losing units.
• The first GO/SES in the chain of command or supervision may approve emergency eave, return of soldiers and DACS from temporary duty and return of soldiers from leave to their home station. Local leaves and passes for soldiers remain at the appropriate command level for approval.
• Authority to approve or disapprove DAC leave remains with their supervisors. The stop order and travel approval requirements do not apply to DAC leave or personal travel by DACS. Supervisors are reminded they may deny requests for leave due to mission-related requirements. Under no circumstances may supervisors dictate the location or distance for DAC leave. Supervisors are reminded to document the reasons for denial of any leave. Departments and agencies are encouraged to approve leave and maximize telework flexibility to safeguard the health and safety of the workforce.
• With respect to families, DA civilian personnel and their families, any restriction of movement is limited only to government-funded travel.

Soldiers who complete Basic Combat Training (BCT) and are ready to move to Advanced Individual Training (AIT) will be transported to Fort Gordon via disinfected transportation. If they are split option Soldiers, they will return to their home states via commercial transportation. All Soldiers will be educated on the procedures necessary to mitigate the exposure to COVID-19 while traveling. (Split option is when (typically) 17-year-olds join the Army and attend BCT the summer after their junior year. They return home to complete high school and then proceed to AIT after graduation.)

All Soldiers arriving to AIT will be physically screened upon arrival. All Soldiers, cadre, Drill Sergeants, and support staff will be screened on a daily basis.

Soldiers who have graduated from AIT or OSUT with OCONUS orders to their first unit of assignment will hold until the Stop Move order is lifted. Active Duty Soldiers will proceed to a CONUS duty assignment following graduation from AIT (an exception from the 60-day stop movement order). All Soldiers will be educated on the procedures necessary to mitigate the exposure to COVID-19 while traveling as well as awaiting movement to station.

In an effort to protect, detect and treat, a screening process of all new recruits began March 2 at the Army’s basic training centers. This screening assesses trainees’ potential exposure to infected persons and international travel they may have taken, and includes a medical screening for COVID-19-like symptoms.