No more COVID-19 case totals from JBLM after Pentagon issues reporting order to installations
On Wednesday, a few hours after the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department reported its daily COVID-19 case totals, it announced it would no longer be reporting case numbers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
Confirmed cases as of Wednesday at JBLM were 6, up from 4 since March 28.
In a tweet announcing the change, the health department wrote: “UPDATE: Numbers for Joint Base Lewis-McChord will no longer be available. We removed them from our case count. Our new total is 417 cases in Pierce County.”
In response to questions from The News Tribune about the change, Steve Metcalf, communications specialist for the department, responded via email: “The Department of Defense is no longer making those numbers available to us. For more, you will have to contact them.”
The state’s Joint Information Center at Camp Murray, which has been coordinating the state’s coronavirus response, also deferred questions to the Defense Department.
In a message posted March 30 titled, “COVID-19 Data Reporting Guidance,” the Defense Department stated: “In keeping with our commitment to transparency, we will assiduously continue to make the public aware of the presence of any potential new COVID-19 outbreaks within our base communities. Base commanders are instructed to continue to work with local community health officials to share information on base community cases.
“As we confront this growing crisis, and out of a concern for operational security with regard to readiness, we will not report the aggregate number of individual service member cases at individual unit, base or Combatant Commands. We will continue to do our best to balance transparency in this crisis with operational security.”
The original order came Friday, according to a report in Stars and Stripes.
The Defense Department’s message also stated: “The services will each provide a daily public update. Additionally, the Department of Defense will continue to offer a public daily update of the full number of cases in all services and of civilians, contractors and dependents.”
According to the March 30 Stars and Stripes report: “The order issued by Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Friday is meant to protect operational security at the Defense Department’s global installations, Jonathan Hoffman, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said in a statement Monday. He said Defense Department leaders worried adversaries could exploit such information, especially if the data showed the outbreak impacted U.S. nuclear forces or other critical units.”
Texas media reported earlier this week that Fort Bliss also had stopped reporting its daily totals, with its last update showing seven cases.
More than 1,000 U.S. military personnel and others tied to the military have been sickened by the coronavirus, according to the Pentagon on Monday.
An outbreak also has been reported on the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier.
This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 6:30 PM.
