Twenty USFK-affiliated Individuals tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in South Korea between July 18 and Aug. 2.
One service member arrived at Osan Air Base on a U.S. government chartered flight from the United States on July 20, and eleven service members, four civilians, three family members and one retiree arrived on international commercial flights at Incheon International Airport on July 18, 19, 23-29, Aug. 1 and 2.
Twelve individuals tested positive on their first mandatory COVID-19 test prior to entering quarantine, four individuals tested positive on their subsequent test during quarantine, and four individuals tested positive on their final mandatory test required to exit quarantine. All individuals have since been transferred to an isolation facility designated for confirmed COVID-19 cases at U.S. Army Garrison – Humphreys or Osan Air Base.
Thorough cleaning of all transportation assets and quarantine rooms has been completed.
USFK health professionals determined contact tracing was limited due to the service members, all other passengers and crewmembers on the commercial and chartered flights being tested upon arrival and immediately quarantined without interacting with anyone outside of USFK installations.
As a testament to USFK's aggressive preventative control measures to stop the virus' spread, all USFK-affiliated individuals arriving in South Korea from overseas will be tested for COVID-19, quarantined for 14 days, and must pass a subsequent and exit test with negative results prior to being released from quarantine. If an individual tests positive on any test during quarantine, they will immediately enter isolation.
Despite the recent confirmed cases, USFK remains at a high level of readiness with more than 80% of its affiliated community vaccinated, and less than 1% of its active duty service members currently confirmed positive with COVID-19
USFK continues to maintain a robust combined defense posture to protect the Republic of Korea against any threat or adversary while maintaining prudent preventive measures to protect the force.
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