Two U.S. service members heading to their next duty station in South Korea tested positive for COVID-19, according to U.S. Forces Korea.
One of the service members arrived in South Korea on May 27 and entered quarantine at Camp Humphreys after initially testing negative for COVID-19. But after taking a second test to leave quarantine, the service member tested positive for the virus and was subsequently transferred to Humphreys isolation barracks for positive COVID-19 cases, USFK said in a news release.
The other service member was immediately taken to quarantine after he arrived at Camp Humphreys on June 8, and then tested positive for COVID-19 on June 10. He also remains at Camp Humphreys’ isolation barracks.
Both arrived in South Korea on U.S. government-chartered flights, and all persons on the flights were immediately tested and quarantined thereafter.
So far, only five active-duty USFK service members have tested positive for COVID-19.
“As a testament to USFK’s aggressive preventative control measures to stop the virus’ spread, any USFK-affiliated individual arriving in South Korea from overseas will be tested for COVID-19 and then quarantined for 14 days,” USFK said in a statement. “Medical personnel will administer another test prior to being released from isolation.”
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The very first U.S. service member to test positive for COVID-19 was a USFK soldier. After testing positive in February, USFK announced in April that the 23-year-old soldier stationed at Camp Carroll was virus-free following 49 days in isolation.
There have been approximately 2 million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., and more than 100,00 deaths due to the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University.
