The week leading up to Memorial Day was one of the deadliest of the coronavirus pandemic, with a surge in deaths after several weeks of none, totaling eight and including the third service member to die.
The service member was a soldier, an Army official confirmed to Military Times.
It had been nearly six weeks since a service member’s death due to COVID-19 complications, following the death of Chief Aviation Ordnanceman Charles Thacker, 41, who had been assigned to the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt.
His death was preceded by Capt. Douglass Hickok, a 57-year-old New Jersey Army National Guard physician’s assistant, in late March.
Monday’s numbers bring the mortality rate among troops to 0.04 percent, compared to the Defense Department’s overall 0.4 percent rate. Nationwide, the mortality rate among known cases stands at 6 percent.
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The military’s infection rate is 0.3 percent, compared with 0.5 percent nation wide.
Of 6,118 total cases diagnosed among troops, 165 have been hospitalized and 3,460 have recovered.
Of those, 2,376 cases are in the Navy, followed by 1,315 in the Army, 543 in the Marine Corps and 475 in the Air Force. National Guard soldiers and airmen account for another 1,278 cases, as of Monday.
DoD’s death toll now stands at 35. Death No. 28 was reported May 18, after three solid weeks with no new deaths.
Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
