USFJ Changes COVID Protocols Measures After Camp Hansen Cluster Infection Incident
USFJ is trying to mitigate the repetitional damage done to the command with the Japanese public with these new changes:
U.S. Forces Japan re-imposed a testing requirement for personnel heading to Japan on Thursday after the country’s foreign minister admonished the U.S. military for breaching its border protection measures.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi expressed “deep regret” to USFJ commander Lt. Gen. Ricky Rupp that a unit of Marines was not tested for COVID-19 before it arrived on Okinawa aboard a U.S. government flight. The newly arrived Marines were quarantined at Camp Hansen but permitted base access for five days before being tested, Hayashi said at a Wednesday news conference in Tokyo.
Marine Corps Installations Pacific on Dec. 17 said “multiple” Marines in the group had tested positive for COVID-19, the coronavirus respiratory disease. By Thursday, that cluster had grown to 227, up from 180 on Monday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a news conference that morning.
Matsuno said he would continue to push the U.S. military to “take more thorough measures” to prevent the virus from spreading and hopefully ease locals’ concerns.
USFJ said the Hansen cases have prompted changes, according to a statement emailed to Stars and Stripes by spokeswoman Yukiko Date.
“In light of the current omicron variant, the COVID-19 positive cases at Camp Hansen in Okinawa, and to ensure the health and safety of all SOFA members and the citizens of Japan, USFJ has updated our COVID Health Protection Guidance to require pre-arrival testing for all SOFA members within 72 hours of flights departing for Japan on all forms of transportation,” the statement said.
USFJ acknowledged Hayashi’s complaint but said it followed guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Defense Department and Indo-Pacific Command when it discontinued pre-departure testing in September.
The Okinawa Department of Public Health and Medical Care believed the U.S. military was testing its personnel before they boarded flights for Japan until it learned otherwise on Wednesday, a spokesman for the department said during an online press conference on Thursday.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link.
The fact that these feeble-minded “leaders” (Japanese and American alike) base anyone’s “reputation” on the “spread” of an already uncontrolled–and endemic–virus shows how utterly un-serious they are at their real task.
I am appalled at how contemptuous they are acting. It’s really just embarrassing.
Apparently Courage and Honor are things of the past, at the top levels of both governments. They’ve been replaced by leftist political rhetoric and fear pr0n.
Shame on all of them.
What I’m trying to say:
“USFJ acknowledged Hayashi’s complaint but said it followed guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Defense Department and Indo-Pacific Command when it discontinued pre-departure testing in September.”
CDC guidance says there is no need for pre-departure testing? Why do I need a PCR test before flying?
Oh. The “vaccinated” don’t need a test and the military is fully vaccinated.
Soooo… is the CDC aware of “breakthrough infections”?
Which… uh… based on UK and Danish data, seem to affect the vaccinated more than the unvaccinated with omicron.
Seems like a slip up. These guys obviously weren’t boostered enough to be Safe and Effective.
Best bet is to give them all a booster and then give them one more just to be safe.
Can’t have enough boosters.