Update: Robins Air Force Base confirmed Wednesday that nine people there who recently returned from traveling abroad have been directed to “stay at home or other appropriate domicile coordinated with their leadership for 14 days, practice social distancing and conduct self-monitoring.”
More than 120 Grand Princess cruise ship passengers quarantined at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta amid the coronavirus pandemic were scheduled to return home to Delaware, Indiana and Illinois on Tuesday, Gov. Brian Kemp said.
In all, 124 were set to depart Dobbins, leaving about 160 at the military installation. That is down from the nearly 500 who were brought there after their cruise ship was struck by the disease. All of the 31 Georgians who were brought to Dobbins returned home Sunday, Kemp said.
“They are back home and self-quarantined and being monitored by their local health department,” Kemp said.
Twenty-one people aboard ship tested positive for the COVID-19 infection, Vice President Mike Pence confirmed this month. Of those, 19 were crew members and two were passengers.
Kemp announced Saturday that Georgia had been given federal permission to begin returning state residents to their homes from Dobbins. He also authorized calling up as many 2,000 Georgia National Guardsmen to active duty for helping get them home.
Some of the passengers quarantined at the military base have complained of unsanitary conditions, missing luggage and limited access to food, medicine and other necessities.
Meanwhile, a spokesman at Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield near Georgia’s coast said Tuesday about 25 U.S. servicemembers and Department of the Army civilians are “under a precautionary 14-day observation and monitoring period, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.”
“The majority of those personnel came to Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield from overseas locations and are at both on- and off-post locations,” said Lt. Col. Patrick Husted, a spokesman for the 3rd Infantry Division, which is based at Fort Stewart. Husted said he could not provide more information about them, citing federal privacy laws.
Four soldiers from Fort Gordon, in the Augusta area, completed a two-week quarantine on Wednesday after returning home from South Korea, said Buz Yarnell, a spokesman for the military installation.
Like Fort Gordon and Fort Stewart, Fort Benning said it has no confirmed cases of COVID-19. A spokesman for Benning, which sits near Columbus, said officials there are checking the temperatures of recruits and asking them about foreign travel and potential exposure to infected people. Those arriving at Benning from “high-risk areas” could be placed under a 14-day observation program to restrict their movement and monitor their health, said Ben Garrett, a spokesman for Benning.
“We are continually taking precautionary measures to protect the health of the force and maintain operational readiness,” Garrett said, adding: “We are actively conducting screening procedures.”
About the Author
