The military takes precautionary measures to protect against coronavirus.
As the novel coronavirus spreads, military commanders ponder actions to protect the force.
U.S. Army (Amber I. Smith)

Protect the Force from the Novel Coronavirus

Keeping the U.S. military safe from the Coronavirus pandemic will require deliberate planning, prevention, and response.
By Dr. Jerry L. Mothershead, Dr. Zygmunt F. Dembek, and Dr. Aiguo Wu
March 2020
Proceedings
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The Threat (Why We are Concerned)

Since initial reports in December 2019 of an outbreak of severe respiratory illnesses due to a novel coronavirus (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2, or SARS-CoV-2) in Wuhan, Peoples Republic of China (PRC), the disease (COVID-19) has spread rapidly across the globe. As of 9 March, there had been 118,326 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, with 4,627 deaths affecting 114 countries (see Table 1). Most of these have occurred in Hubei Province, PRC. Since the first SARS-CoV-2 case in the United States was reported on 23 January, that number has grown to 938 in 39 states.

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Dr. Jerry L. Mothershead

Jerry L. Mothershead, MD, FACEP, is a retired emergency medicine physician, flight surgeon, and naval flight officer, with 32 years active duty service in operational, clinical and administrative positions. His last assignment was as Special Projects Officer for CBRN Medical Defense at the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center, with concurrent designation as the Navy Medicine Specialty Leader for both emergency medical services and Homeland Defense. He is also an adjunct assistant professor of military and emergency medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and has written more than 50 articles and book chapters on public health and medical preparedness. Since retirement, he has supported the Department of Defense and other federal agencies in worldwide initiatives focusing on public health and medical defense against disasters, pandemics, and CBRN events. He currently supports the Technical Reachback Group at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency through ARA Corporation.

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Dr. Zygmunt F. Dembek

Zygmunt F. Dembek, PhD, MS, MPH, LHD (Hon), an epidemiologist and biochemist, is an associate professor of military and emergency medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and has written more than 100 articles and book chapters relevant to public health preparedness. He served in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve, holding ranks from private through colonel, and was Director of Education and Training at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. He currently is a senior scientist with Battelle Memorial Institute, and supports the Technical Reachback Group at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and other federal clients.

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Dr. Aiguo Wu

Dr. Aiguo Wu serves as the medical lead for the Technical Reachback Group at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Dr. Wu leads a group of scientific and clinical subject matter experts that provides technical consultation and modeling support for Combatant Commands (CoCoMs) and federal agencies. He has co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and articles related to his biomedical accomplishments. Dr. Wu holds both a medical degree and a doctorate degree in experimental hematology.

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