The members of the USA’ eighth Army, together with different Army items stationed in South Korea had been simply given the Army Superior Unit Award for his or her battle towards COVID-19. The Army introduced the commendation on Thursday, Could 26, citing their efforts to include and stop the unfold of the virus in the course of the earliest days of the pandemic in 2020.
Instances in South Korea had been reported in January 2020, the identical time the primary infections had been found in the USA. Within the weeks after instances first appeared, they shortly soared, and it turned the nation “into the second epicenter of the worldwide pandemic,” in keeping with the Army’s launch. One viral sizzling spot was the town of Daegu, whose metropolitan space was dwelling to 4 Army stations housing hundreds of U.S. service members.
“As South Korea’s variety of confirmed instances continued to extend, the 11,000 troops, dependents, and civilians in Daegu turned the primary giant U.S inhabitants to confront COVID-19,” the Army mentioned in its launch on the award.
On Feb. 26, 2020 the first COVID-19 case was reported in an active-duty soldier serving in South Korea. In response to spreading instances, the eighth Army initiated quarantines for probably uncovered troopers, enacted strict hygiene measures and a few lockdowns. It additionally started monitoring troops’ journey to enact contact tracing. It was one of many first responses by the U.S. navy to the pandemic.
The award, created in 1985 to honor items that carry out extraordinary service or difficult missions throughout peacetime. Troopers awarded the distinction can completely put on the lapel pin. The quotation for the eighth Army and different items covers the interval from Jan. 28-April 30, 2020.
The information comes the identical week because the Army reported new numbers on its vaccination efforts. As of Could 26, 97% of active-duty troops are totally vaccinated, and 98% are no less than partially inoculated. 742 troopers have been separated because of refusing to get vaccinated towards the virus. There have been a complete of 4,428 requests for a everlasting spiritual exemption to the COVID vaccine and 732 medical exemption requests. Solely 31 exemptions have been granted by the Army. Vaccinations had been made obligatory in August. The entire variety of troopers punished is at 3,418, up by greater than 400 since January. These are within the type of basic officer memorandums of reprimand, or GOMORs, which will be everlasting or short-term. If everlasting, the reprimand can stop promotions.
The awards for the forces stationed in South Korea additionally comes as instances are surging in the USA. The speed is 4 occasions as excessive because it was final 12 months when vaccinations had been simply rolling out. Because the nation heads into the Memorial Day weekend, roughly 100,000 new instances are being reported every day in the USA. A couple of million People have died from the virus.
The Army Reserve and Nationwide Guard are on a distinct vaccination timeline than active-duty troopers; their deadline is the tip of June.
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