Pentagon extends travel restrictions through June 30
THE UNITED STATES Defense Department said Saturday it would extend travel restrictions through June 30 in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus, but will allow for some redeployments and repatriation of troops serving abroad.
The brand new order will get into influence on Monday, Matthew Donovan, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, told reporters in a telephone briefing.
In a bid to squelch the spread of the coronavirus within the united states military, Pentagon chief Mark Esper had ordered in late March a 60-day halt on all travel for civilian and military employees, along with their family members.
That order was because of expire in May, and so the new measure extends it for per month.
But local commanders can authorize deployed soldiers - notably those serving abroad who was simply ordered to stay - to come back home if circumstances on the ground permit such a move.
“The new guidance permits operational deployments and redeployments… and allows travelers who are in the middle of non permanent duty travel or permanent change of station… keep on to their home stations or new duty station,” Donovan said.
The undersecretary did not specify if the allowance for repatriations would affect soldiers in conflict zones such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
On Friday, the Pentagon announced a complete of 2,986 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the condition due to the virus, within the US military.
Two military personnel have died, including a sailor on the stricken aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, and 44 have already been hospitalized.
