US Army Has 288 Confirmed COVID-19 Cases

U.S. Army Chief of Staff General James McConville in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept. 9, 2019. (Lillian Suwanrumpha/ AFP via Getty Images)

There are now 288 cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. Army, Army Chief of Staff General James McConville confirmed on Thursday.

Of the cases, 100 are soldiers, 64 are department civilians, 65 are dependents, nine are cadets, and 50 are Army contractors, he said at a U.S. Army news conference on the CCP virus.

The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Party’s coverup and mishandling allowed the virus to spread throughout China and spark a global pandemic.

The U.S. Army announced earlier this week that three of its expeditionary hospital facilities are set to deploy to New York and Washington state to support the effort to fight COVID-19.

McConville said the Army hospitals will be operational starting next Monday.

He said that 531st Hospital from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and the 9th Hospital from Fort Hood, Texas, will deploy to New York City.

“The main body will arrive at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst on Friday and will set up at Javits Center this weekend and will be operational for non-COVID patients beginning Monday,” he said.

McConnell said that the 627th Hospital from Fort Carson, Colorado, will deploy to Seattle, and “a location decision is pending.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is engaged in all 50 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, assisting FEMA and state authorities to conduct site assessments for alternate care facilities, McConnell said, adding that an update about the engineers’ activities will come tomorrow.

“Over 10,000 national guard soldiers are supporting the COVID-19 national response efforts in communities in every state across the nation,” McConville also said. “Their missions include delivering food to communities, supporting local emergency management agencies, providing personal protective equipment to first responders and hospital personnel, providing support to testing facilities, providing transportation for healthcare workers, cleaning and disinfecting public spaces, and staffing call centers to inform the public.”

A tracking map published by Johns Hopkins University currently shows that the United States has 85,505 confirmed CCP virus cases and 1,288 deaths as of Thursday night.

The number of cases continues to rise in the country as testing and access to it improves, and as testing centers work to clear a backlog of samples.

The American Enterprise Institute started a tracker of America’s testing capacity, which is projecting that the United States will conduct 100,000 or more COVID-19 tests per day by March 27.

The Coronavirus Task Force is urging all Americans to adhere to the “15 Days to Slow the Spread” campaign to urgently reduce the spread of the virus. Trump said on Tuesday that his administration will assess recommendations surrounding business activity after the 15 days of recommended social distancing measures.