Infectious disease expert says there's still time for US to learn lessons from coronavirus
We learned from China that older populations, hospital workers and first responders need to be protected from coronavirus, says Dr. Peter Hotez from the Baylor College of Medicine.
The Pentagon confirmed that one member of the U.S. military and five dependents of various service members have coronavirus in South Korea, a senior official said Wednesday.
The infected soldier, who is a member of the United States Forces Korea (USFK), is stationed in Daegu. His wife and a small child are among the infected.
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In a separate case, the widow of a retired American soldier in South Korea also contracted the virus.
Additionally, a dependant of a USFK active duty service member has been in self-quarantine since Feb. 26 and has not had contact with any other military member since then, according to a statement by the USFK.
The infected patient has been under the medical supervision of U.S. military medical providers and officials said they determining contact tracing was not necessary due to the patient's quarantine measures and lack of interaction with others.
In the sixth case, a dependent of a Pentagon civilian employee has been self-quarantined since Feb. 28 and hasn't had contact with anyone except her spouse, the USFK said.
"As a precautionary measure, her spouse will now be under self-quarantine at their residence," the USFK said, adding that they are conducting contact tracing to determine whether anyone else may have been exposed to the virus.
Pentagon officials admitted there “probably will be some more cases” but said the numbers of infected individuals is “very small."
The Pentagon says they are following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control to test other service members for the virus, although it remains unclear how many tests are being administered.
The virus infects the elderly and those with compromised immune systems, and Pentagon health officials said they believe most of the U.S. military is not at risk.
“What we are trying to do is not scare people by saying everybody is at risk because that is not true,” one official said.
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According to the most recent situation report from the World Health Organization on the coronavirus – which has infected 90,870 and killed more than 3,000 worldwide – 4,812 cases have been detected in South Korea. There have been 28 deaths total, Tuesday's report indicated.
On Wednesday, the death toll in the U.S. climbed to 11 with over 60 cases of infection across the country, according to WHO.