{"id":67841,"date":"2020-04-21T16:56:35","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T16:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/04\/21\/nearly-1000-troops-have-recovered-from-covid-19\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:08:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:08:57","slug":"nearly-1000-troops-have-recovered-from-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/04\/21\/nearly-1000-troops-have-recovered-from-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearly 1,000 troops have recovered from COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the Defense Department\u2019s COVID-19 cases<\/a> continue to rise, so too have the numbers of service members making a recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Per DoD\u2019s latest data, 990 troops are considered recovered, out of 3,496 reported cases since the first soldier tested positive in South Korea<\/a> in late February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Numbers for both populations could be much higher, however, as the military grapples with estimated rates of asymptomatic infection. Testing the entire crew<\/a> of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt revealed that more than half of the coronavirus-positive sailors didn\u2019t feel sick at all, forcing DoD to get serious about testing more than just those who feel unwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAgain, it\u2019s only 5,000 people, but it is 5,000 people of a certain demographic,\u201d Air Force Gen. John Hyten, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Friday. \u201cAnd that\u2019s a very important data point to understand, because that is our data point as a military.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The infection rate among troops now stands at 1,664-per-million, or 0.16 percent percent. In the U.S. population, those numbers are 2,283-per-million, or 0.22 percent. But the military\u2019s generally young and healthy demographics put its death rate so low that it\u2019s barely above zero statistically, while the U.S. rate has climbed to 5 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For DoD overall, which also tracks civilians, dependents and contractors, the 22 COVID-19 fatalities means the death rate is 0.4 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\t