USFJ Extends On Base Lockdown of U.S. Military Servicemembers

It looks like servicemembers in Japan will be stuck on their bases for a little while longer:

The U.S. military authority in Japan has extended a stay-at-home order until Jan. 31 for its service members, civilian employees and their families as COVID-19 continues to spready quickly throughout the nation.

“This decision was made out of an abundance of caution to protect all personnel from rapid spread of COVID-19 in local communities,” U.S. Forces Japan announced on its website Friday. The original two-week order was scheduled to expire Monday.

Omicron, while creating milder symptoms and fewer hospitalizations than previous variants, continues to infect record numbers of people in Japan. But case counts within the U.S. military are flattening and, at many U.S. bases, numbers are falling, according to USFJ.

“The stringent COVID-19 mitigations implemented in December have effectively stalled the spread of the virus on U.S. installations,” said Friday’s statement.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.