{"id":57932,"date":"2020-04-27T16:26:23","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T16:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/04\/27\/more-than-4000-troops-have-been-diagnosed-with-covid-19\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:16:08","slug":"more-than-4000-troops-have-been-diagnosed-with-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/04\/27\/more-than-4000-troops-have-been-diagnosed-with-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 4,000 troops have been diagnosed with COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nearly 300 more service members tested positive<\/a> for coronavirus <\/a>over the weekend, bringing the military\u2019s total to 4,213 cases, according to the Defense Department<\/a>\u2019s latest data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That figure puts troops overall infection rate at 2,006-per-million, or 0.2 percent since the first soldier was diagnosed in South Korea in late February. As overall U.S. cases edge toward 1 million, the infection rate among residents is 2,839-per-million, or almost 0.3 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cases among troops are expected to continue to rise in the coming weeks and months as the Pentagon rolls out a plan to test members of key units, whether they are symptomatic or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPart of this is learning about who has the virus so that we can, obviously protect the force, and part of it is taking efforts to conduct science and learn more about the virus itself,” Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told Military Times on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two-thirds of those new cases came from the Navy, as an outbreak on a second ship launched an effort to get 100-percent of its crew tested. As of Monday, 969 sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt have tested positive, as have 47 assigned to the destroyer Kidd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Navy\u2019s 1,659 cases account for 40 percent of the military\u2019s numbers, followed by the Army, a larger service with 40 percent fewer cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\t