Fort Campbell commanders say the military installation has three confirmed cases of the coronavirus as of Tuesday evening, but none of them are among active service members or civilian workers on the installation.
Commanders, in a Facebook livestream update to the military community, said a military retiree and two family members of military retirees tested positive for COVID-19 after traveling.
Fort Campbell two weeks ago started implementing restrictions to limit the spread of the virus, including restricting off-base travel to 50 miles for soldiers, closing schools, keeping installation food services as exclusively carry-out, limiting each army hospital patient to one visitor, and closing “non-essential” services like gyms.
Command Sgt. Maj. Bryan Barker said some restrictions have received pushback from the installation community, but that continuing the measures and social distancing is essential.
“We have the train running down the tracks at us right now. If we’re reactive, we wait until the train hits us,” Barker said. “So we’re going to be a little over-reactive and get off the tracks before the train even gets near us.”
Barker also said reports of people still gathering on the installation for barbeques and “garage parties” needs to stop. The U.S. The Department of Defense (DOD) last week halted thousands of troops moving to different stations to control the spread of COVID-19. Barker said about 43 families connected to Fort Campbell were left in limbo because of the move.
“They got caught in this ‘stop’ move with their household goods, got picked up, their car was shipped overseas, and they got stopped dead in their tracks before they could leave Fort Campbell,” Barker said. “We just ask that you continue to remain patient with us.”
Commanding Major General Brian Winski said leaders are making daily assessments on when to add or lift restrictions regarding coronavirus, but that it’s hard to know what lies ahead.
“We look at all the measures that are in place and make a determination if we need to implement more, if we see changes in the data that warrant it,” said Winski. “Or, if we’re overly restrictive in some areas, and there may be room to loosen things up.”
The DOD on Monday ordered all installations to stop publicly reporting new coronavirus cases among military personnel, out of fear adversaries may exploit the information. Winski said Fort Campbell is still telling local officials about cases even if they won’t be publicly linked to the base.
Despite the restrictions and some installation entrances being closed, commanders said Fort Campbell isn’t closed to normal operations.
