By Courtney Kube - NBC News
Seven of the eight members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been quarantined after attending a meeting on Friday with a Coast Guard admiral who tested positive for COVID-19 shortly after, three Department of Defense officials said. .
The Joint Chief of Staff, Gen.
Mark Milley
, has quarantined himself, officials said;
the deputy chief, General
John Hyten
, did the
same
;
General
John Raymond
of the Space Force;
General
Charles Q. Brown
of the Air Force;
General
James McConville
, Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral
Mike Gilday
and the Chief of the National Guard, General
Daniel Hokanson
.
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The cited officials said Coast Guard Deputy Commander Admiral Charles Ray attended a classified meeting at the Pentagon on October 2, in a room known as "The Tank."
Ray tested positive for COVID-19 afterward,
and now everyone who was at that meeting is in quarantine.
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The director of the National Security Agency, General
Paul Nakasone
, was also at that meeting and is now in quarantine.
The only member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who is not in quarantine is the commander of the Marine Corps, General David Berger, who did not attend the meeting because he was traveling.
The deputy commander of the Marine Corps, Gen.
Gary Thomas
, attended in his place and is now in quarantine.
Admiral Ray was meeting in the 'tank' room in place of the Coast Guard commander, Admiral Karl Schultz, who was scheduled to attend the meeting, although he is not a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Schultz is not in quarantine.
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None of the senior military commanders who are in quarantine have shown symptoms of COVID-19
so far, the officials said.
However, they will be quarantined for the rest of this week and part of the next.
The Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, in a Sept. 11, 2020, file photo.Reuters
Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman issued a statement saying that other members of the General Staff service, apart from Admiral Ray, were in quarantine, but did not name people.
"We are aware that Vice Commander Ray tested positive for Covid-19 and that he was at the Pentagon last week to meet with other high-ranking military leaders," Hoffman said.
“Some of those attending the meeting included other members of the General Staff service.
We are conducting additional contact tracing and taking appropriate precautions to protect the forces and the mission.
As a precaution, everyone who possibly had close contact
during these meetings
was quarantined and tested this morning
.
No Pentagon contacts have shown symptoms and we have no additional positive tests to report at this time, "the statement read.
“There are no changes in the ability to carry out the mission or in the readiness to operate of the United States Armed Forces… The Department of Defense has followed CDC guidelines since April regarding the verification of body temperature, social distancing and the use of masks to the extent possible, when there can be no social distancing, and will continue to do so ”.
