Fort Bragg Discusses Coronavirus in Virtual Town Hall
FORT BRAGG, NC - JANUARY 04: U.S. troops from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division arrive at Green Ramp as they head out for a deployment to the Middle East on January 4, 2020 in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Soldiers from the Immediate Response Force of the 82nd are part of the approximately 3,000 troops being deployed as tensions increase with Iran in the region after a U.S. airstrike killed top Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. (Photo by Andrew Craft/Getty Images)
Fort Bragg officials held a virtual town hall meeting via Facebook.
Of note from the town hall:
- Top priorities are maintaining readiness and keeping families safe.
- Fort Bragg learned of positive case Monday night and shared with appropriate units. Shared with public Tuesday, following official policies.
- “No one is withholding information.” Public health is conducting contact tracing for individual who tested positive.
- “We will not be putting out individual names of anyone who tested positive for COVID-19 to protect their privacy and HIPAA.”
- 66 positive cases in North Carolina
- Testing capacity expanding as Fort Bragg can partner with private companies. Drive through diagnostic and testing option hopefully ready by Monday at fairgrounds. That can only happen if someone meets the criteria for testing, including symptoms and travel history, as well as negative flu test.
- Many patients for other unrelated things are being transferred into virtual care to help ease strain on hospital.
- Garrison Commander says CDCs will remain open for now because of the vital need. Extra precautions are being put in place. If you pull your child from CDCs you will be refunded, but will NOT lose your held place.
- Gym access is restricted to active duty or emergency service personnel only. Hours reduced.
- Food service facilities only open for to-go or drive thru services. Many recreation facilities closed (bowling and bingo, etc.)
- Housing through Corvias will focus on emergency services, non-emergency routine services will be postponed.
- Commissaries are going to 100% ID check, hours are being adjusted and certain items will be limited in quantities each individual is allowed to purchase.
- 5,000 or so soldiers returning in next 40 days or so. At peak, about 1,100 will be quarantined on post. Others will be quarantined in their home.
- There’s no restrictions for visitors to come on post, but there are certain restrictions for visitors going to the hospital.
- For testing, not everybody that presents with symptoms would be tested. Only those who present with symptoms and may have been in contact, traveled to high risk areas, or has failed flu test.
- “Will this affect retirements in the next 6 months? No, we will continue to process the paperwork.”
- Womack Blood Donor Center is still taking donations, but they are being reorganized to limit access due to mitigate COVID-19.
- “Do travel restrictions affect DA civilians? No, we cannot tell you what to do on your personal time. However, please consider the situation we are currently in and let your supervisor know if you choose to travel.”
Brandon Plotnick is a former sports journalist, now living in the digital space with interests all over the musical and pop culture map.
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