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DoD Revises COVID-19 Guidelines

08-16-22 WR COVID-19 Guidelines
08-16-22 WR COVID-19 Guidelines
Washington Report

The Defense Department has changed its guidelines for handling COVID-19.

The revisions impact the military’s traveling, wearing masks and getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

The DoD’s Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness detailed the shifts in an Aug. 8 memo.

The memo, which marks the DoD’s second revision of its COVID-19 practices, includes these rules:

  • Installation commanders must change the Health Protection Condition Level at their bases using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Community Level in the local county. The CDC Community Levels – low, medium and high – note the degree of the community’s COVID-19 transmission. HPCON levels A, B and C correspond to the low, medium and high Community Levels, respectively.
  • Commanders must raise a base’s HPCON level no later than two weeks after the CDC raises a Community Level for the county containing the installation. The HPCON level may be lowered no sooner than two weeks than the Community Level’s lowering.
  • Base commanders no longer need “consistency in response and unity of messaging” from coordinating with other installation commanders.
  • Contact tracing will prioritize investigating “cases, clusters, and outbreaks involving high-risk congregate settings, unusual clusters of cases, and … novel or emerging variants that pose a significant risk for severe disease, hospitalization, or death."
  • Troops must self-screen for COVID-19 symptoms before entering DoD facilities or “interacting with members of the public in person as part of your official duties.” Those displaying COVID-19 symptoms or feeling ill must remain at home. The CDC has outlined the symptoms requiring self-screening.
  • In DoD schools, students no longer need to stay six feet apart.
  • Personnel must wear masks indoors and on DoD transportation including aircraft and boats, no matter their vaccination status or the DoD Community Level.
  • Wearing masks is also recommended for low-occupancy vehicles like cars and vans for all Community Levels. Previously, masks were required in such transportation during a “High” Community Level.
  • People are now up to date on COVID-19 vaccines after getting “all recommended COVID-19 vaccines, including any booster doses recommended when eligible.”
  • Once someone’s vaccination status is up to date, their close contacts no longer need to quarantine if COVID-19 infects that individual.
  • Close contacts of the infected without up to date COVID-19 vaccinations must quarantine for five days.
  • Meeting organizers must ensure attendees “follow the applicable requirements” for physical distancing in Section 5.2 of the DoD’s COVID-19 guidelines.
  • The commander of U.S. Transportation Command can now waive travel-related requirements “in order to continue execution of the Joint Deployment and Distribution Enterprise to protect and sustain the joint force globally.”
  • Evacuations and permanent station changes are now “mission-critical” as they address travel guidance.
  • DoD contracting officers may – instead of must – require contractor personnel to complete a risk assessment, including a self-health assessment, before traveling outside America.
  • Costs from travel-related testing may now be claimed as expenses.

As of Aug. 4, 88% of the Army National Guard is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with another 1.6% partially vaccinated.

In the Air National Guard, 94.4% of personnel are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Aug. 8.

 - By Mark Hensch