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Pentagon: US Joint Chiefs of Staff quarantined after Coast Guard admiral tests positive for Covid-19
Senior commanders of the US military have been told to self-isolate and work from home, after Admiral Charles Ray of the Coast Guard tested positive for the coronavirus.
The rest of the Joint Chiefs have tested negative so far.
Ray, who is vice commandant of the Coast Guard, began feeling ill Friday and tested positive on Monday. The other Joint Chiefs tested negative on Tuesday, but were told to self-isolate and work from home for the next several days.
Those in self-quarantine include Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley, General Charles Brown of the Air Force, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday and Space Force operations chief General John Raymond.
Joint Chiefs told to quarantine after Vice Commandant of Coast Guard tests positive for COVID-19. Admiral Charles Ray was at WH day after Coney Barrett ceremony. Began feeling unwell Fri. Tested positive yesterday. Joint Chiefs all test negative today.
— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) October 6, 2020
Gen. Mark Milley and several members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are self-isolating and working from home after a top Coast Guard official tested positive for coronavirus, per @barbarastarrcnn. The Vice Commandant of the US Coast Guard, Admiral Charles Ray, is positive.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 6, 2020
“We are aware that Vice Commandant Ray has tested positive for Covid-19 and that he was at the Pentagon last week for meetings with other senior military leaders,” senior Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement.
“Out of an abundance of caution, all potential close contacts from these meetings are self-quarantining and have been tested this morning,” he added.
“No Pentagon contacts have exhibited symptoms and we have no additional positive tests to report at this time.”
It is unclear where or when Admiral Ray may have contracted the coronavirus. Fox News noted that he had visited the White House last Sunday. This was a day after the outdoors event nominating Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the US Supreme Court, which the media have speculated might have been when a number of people got infected, including President Donald Trump himself.
Democrats were quick to point the finger at the president for “infecting the Joint Chiefs.”
Trump spent the weekend at Walter Reed National Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland getting treated for Covid-19, amid breathless media speculation about his condition. He returned to the White House on Monday evening, saying he hasn’t felt better in decades.
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