COVID-19
USO’s online programs prove popular with troops during coronavirus lockdowns
“I think we are busier now than before the pandemic,” Yokota USO manager Mardie Marqueze-Velasquez said Wednesday. “We can’t reach them physically, but we have great teams across the globe of volunteers and staff.”
US military loosens coronavirus quarantine rules for vaccinated new arrivals to South Korea
Vaccinated individuals must quarantine until the mandatory test required upon arrival comes back negative, USFK announced Monday. Anyone living with that person must also restrict their movements until the result is available.
US military resumes sending soldiers, families to bases in coronavirus-hit area of South Korea
The U.S. military resumed sending newly arrived soldiers and family members to the coronavirus-hit city of Daegu this week despite a State Department warning against travel to the area as the number of infections in South Korea surpassed 5,300.
DODEA assigns school bus seats to students in South Korea as coronavirus precaution
Department of Defense Education Activity-Pacific West announced the policy, which took effect Monday, in a Nov. 10 letter posted on Humphreys High School’s Facebook page. Assigning students to specific seats would facilitate contact tracing in the event a student contracted COVID-19, the coronavirus respiratory disease.
US military moves to make pandemic travel easier for troops based in Japan
U.S. Forces Japan announced new options to make travel easier for vaccinated service members, Defense Department employees and their families.
About 50,000 service members in Japan ordered to maintain logs of personal interactions amid pandemic
Failure to maintain a log of daily personal contacts and interactions may result in charges under Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice — failure to obey an order or regulation.
USFK levels 2-year ban on civilian violating coronavirus measures in off-base bar
It was the second such action against a civilian in South Korea since Gen. Robert Abrams declared a public health emergency in late March. Several soldiers also have been punished for violating restrictions on non-essential movement off-base.