Two Defense Department civilians and one dependent were reported deceased of COVID-19 complications on Tuesday, bringing DoD’s overall deaths to 25 and its mortality rate to more than 4 percent, according to the latest data.
That’s slightly lower than the overall U.S. mortality rate of over 5 percent as of Tuesday afternoon.
Overall cases went up about 3 percent between Tuesday and Wednesday, the numbers show, 82 of which were in service members.
The infection rate among troops is now 1,703-per-million, or just under 0.2 percent, compared to the overall U.S. rate of 2,373 per million, or just over 0.2 percent.
Within DoD, department civilians have been the hardest hit by coronavirus, with 12 deaths. Their rate is lower than the mortality for DoD contractors, however, whose seven deaths represent a 1.6 percent rate.
In addition, two service members and four dependents have died.
Cases continue to rise across all four of DoD’s tracking categories, after a short lull earlier this week.
Among service members, cases grew about 2 percent from Tuesday to Wednesday, with 82 new diagnoses bringing the total since late February to 3,578. Of those, 85 have been hospitalized and 1,073 have recovered.
The Navy still has more than double the total cases of the next hardest-hit service, with 1,298, due to an outbreak on the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt that prompted 100-percent testing for its 4,800-sailor crew.
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More than three weeks after pulling into port, 6 percent of the crew is still awaiting testing, according to the Navy’s latest update. Of those tested, 710 are positive, more than half of whom have been asymptomatic, senior DoD officials have confirmed.
The Army is reporting 841 cases, while the Air Force and Marine Corps continue to have comparatively low numbers, at 338 and 253, respectively. When adjusted for their differences in end strength, the Air Force has the lowest reported coronavirus infection rate, at 0.1 percent.
The Navy, comparatively, is looking at nearly 0.4 percent. The National Guard, made up of both airmen and soldiers, is reporting 713 cases as of Wednesday, with over 30,000 of those troops mobilized for community pandemic response efforts.
Civilian cases jumped by 53, or 6 percent, on Tuesday, bringing the total to 965, 76 of whom have been hospitalized while 217 have recovered.
Fourteen dependents tested positive in the last day, bringing the total to 771, a 2 percent rise. Of those, 59 have been hospitalized and 88 have recovered.
Among contractors, cases stayed the the same. Of 420 total so far, 58 have been hospitalized and 80 have recovered.
Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
