The Pentagon provided additional details Monday on how it would care for thousands of Grand Princess cruise ship passengers at four military bases where they will be quarantined after they disembark from the ship, which has at least 21 confirmed coronavirus cases.
The Grand Princess docked in Oakland, Calif., Monday afternoon as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) prepared to screen each of the 3,500 passengers as they disembark. Only passengers who do not show any symptoms will be transferred to military bases. For example, Travis Air Force Base, located about 40 miles west of Sacramento, is expected to house about 1,000 of the passengers as they go through an additional 14-day quarantine.
The other passengers will be housed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California, Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Ga., and Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.
The passengers will be bused or flown to the military bases by the CDC, and once they arrive on base they will be provided a single room with adjoining bathroom, and will not be allowed to leave their rooms during the stay, said Robert Salesses, deputy assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense integration. CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services is arranging the transportation to the base.
“The folks are actually secluded in those rooms, their meals are brought to them,” Salesses said. If anyone shows symptoms, they will be removed from the base, he said.
“All of the feeding the care … all the medical care that has to take place. If somebody presents with symptoms, they will either be taken to a local facility, or HHS has additional facilities they will provide,” Salesses said.
The military role in helping quarantine the passengers comes as the Defense Department was implementing additional changes on how it will operate internally to protect senior leaders and the workforce from exposure to the coronavirus.
The Pentagon has made some changes in its daily operations, including putting into place policies to encourage “social distancing” as it continues to conduct daily business.
For example, a regular Pentagon senior leadership meeting attended by about 40 people was previously held in one room but now is split between three rooms and conducted over videoconference.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Army Gen. Mark Milley were in one room together, but were spaced about 6 feet apart from each other — the CDC’s recommended distance to avoid transmitting the virus, said Joint Staff surgeon Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul Friedrichs.
The Pentagon was still weighing other decisions, such as whether it would continue to host tours. About 22,000 people work at the Pentagon, and thousands more visit each day for meetings or tours.
The Pentagon was also keeping close watch on three active duty service members who have initially tested positive for coronavirus and about a half dozen others who are awaiting test results. Friedrichs said that number was likely to fluctuate by the hour as additional service members get tested.
Friedrichs also cautioned that the health community still does not have an answer as to whether warmer weather will help stem the outbreak. “We’re still weeks away from that point — that is a known unknown for us right now,” Friedrichs said, “as to whether this will be a seasonal outbreak or whether this will continue.”