Pentagon Cancels Order Barring People Who Had COVID-19 From Serving In The Military
The Pentagon’s top official for personnel issues, Matthew Donovan, has canceled an order that barred individuals from military service if they were hospitalized with complications from the coronavirus.
Donovan, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, told reporters that the Pentagon no longer has a specific policy instructing the services on how to handle recruits who have been previously diagnosed with the virus.
Donovan’s announcement came during a Pentagon news briefing in response to questions about a May 6 order, which temporarily stopped the military from enlisting potential recruits who spent time in the hospital with a coronavirus diagnosis.
Stars And Stripes reports that the military will continue to halt recruits currently experiencing symptoms or who test positive for the coronavirus from shipping to initial entrance training until they recover.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic has led the Pentagon to halt most nonessential travel for its troops worldwide since March and forced services to severely cut the number of new recruits they send each week to basic training. Military officials have expressed confidence they would be able to make up for those recruit shipping shortfalls once restrictions are lifted.
To date, the Pentagon reported a total of 8,859 cases of coronavirus diagnoses within the military community, which includes service members, Defense Department civilian employees, military dependents and defense contractors.