{"id":56353,"date":"2020-03-19T09:00:15","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T09:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/03\/19\/is-the-military-doing-enough-to-practice-social-distancing\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:50:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:50:00","slug":"is-the-military-doing-enough-to-practice-social-distancing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/coronavirus\/2020\/03\/19\/is-the-military-doing-enough-to-practice-social-distancing\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the military doing enough to practice social distancing?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Although the Pentagon is implementing social distancing<\/a> via virtual meetings and by working from home, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has yet to crack down on large gatherings such as town halls for military units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he has no intent to do so \u2014 as of now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe short answer is no, at least not at this time,\u201d Esper told reporters Tuesday<\/a> when asked if he would institute a moratorium on large, in-person gatherings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI trust the commanders to lead their units and take of them appropriately,\u201d Esper said. \u201cAnd that has not been raised to me as a problem at this point in time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in the past week, there have been plenty of examples where military installations, commands and units have not been as vigilant about social distancing as they should be and have failed to adhere to guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the Army Medical Center of Excellence<\/a> in San Antonio on Tuesday continued to hold classes for the Interservice Physicians Assistance Program, or IPAP, even as the military\u2019s medical school, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, has moved to institute distance learning strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A source told Military Times 80 of the Army, Navy and Air Force\u2019s future primary care providers were crowded into an auditorium for at least one class Tuesday, despite the CDC\u2019s recommendation that all gatherings of 50 people or more be canceled for the next eight weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army Medical Center of Excellence Letitia Williamson said the center has been working to transition to online courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs of March 19, 2020, all lecture-based coursework in IPAP will be delivered in an online format in direct support of social distancing direction outlined by the CDC,\u201d Williamson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools have resisted moving to virtual learning as well, allowing children and teachers to interact in close proximity with one another. For example, all DoDEA schools in Japan have been operating as normal \u2014 up until Thursday when DoDEA Pacific East announced that DoDEA schools in Japan and Okinawa would take a hiatus from in-classroom learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DoDEA Pacific announced that schools would close starting March 23 and would re-open after spring break on April 13. Students will have access to virtual learning starting on March 24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe decision to close Japan schools was made out of an abundance of caution and in order to allow for a thorough school cleaning, which would not be possible while students are in the building,” DoDEA Pacific said in a letter Thursday. “This pause will also allow school officials to work to augment necessary cleaning supplies and enhance institutional mitigation measures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move comes after DoDEA Pacific East Superintendent Judy Allen said Tuesday there have been no cases of coronavirus at any of DoDEA schools in Japan so far, and any decision to cancel classes would be made in conjunction with U.S. Forces Japan and medical authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we do change and do something differently, then certainly we\u2019d look at virtual schooling,\u201d Allen said during a Facebook Live town hall event Tuesday. \u201cWe already have some plans in place in case we do have to close the schools of how we would be able to continue the education of our children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was unclear what the line in the sand would be to move toward virtual learning though. Air Force Maj. Allen Fisher, the public health emergency officer at Yokota Air Base in Japan, left the door open for a variety of scenarios to unfold. At the town hall, he said a confirmed case of COVID-19 among students \u201cmight prompt us to recommend closure for a short period of time\u201d while deciding how to proceed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been more than 800 coronavirus cases in Japan as of Tuesday, according to the World Health Organization. DoDEA schools in Guam and South Korea are closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n