Wife of U.S. Soldier Diagnosed with COVid-19 Also Tests Positive for Coronavirus
The wife of the United States Forces Korea service member who recently tested positive for COVID-19 has now tested positive, making this the fourth USFK-related person who has been confirmed with the virus.
She has been in self-quarantine since Feb. 26 following her husband’s positive test, and she is currently being transported to a US military hospital where she’ll be in isolation under direct medical care and supervision from US military medical providers.
The patient has not been in contact with any other USFK or USFK-affiliated personnel since going into quarantine, and KCDC and USFK health professionals determined contact tracing was not necessary due to her quarantine measures and lack of interaction with others.
Her husband is a 23-year-old male who visited Camp Walker on February 24 and Camp Carroll Feb. 21-25. He is currently in self-quarantine at his off-base residence.
The woman is the fourth person affiliated with USFK to test positive for COVID-19. All USFK cases originated in the southeastern city of Daegu.
USFK remains at risk level “high” for USFK peninsula-wide and is implementing all appropriate control measures to help control the spread of COVID-19 and as a prudent measure to protect the force.
KCDC and USFK health professionals are actively conducting contact tracing to determine whether any others may have been exposed.
Camp Carroll Army Base is located on the southeast portion of the peninsula of South Korea, in the village of Waegwan, approximately 12 miles from the city of Daegu, where the surge of Korean virus cases originated.
Camp Walker is part of U.S. Army Garrison Daegu. The base spans 94 acres and contains family housing for about 100 military and civilian families. Also on Camp Walker are Daegu Middle High School, a DoDEA school serving 7th to 12th graders; the main Exchange and DeCA Commissary; the Camp Walker Army Lodge; the Evergreen Golf Course; and several Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation (FMWR) clubs.
More than 80 percent of South Korea’s total cases have been reported in the city of Daegu and in North Gyeongsang Province, where Daegu is located.
As of Saturday morning, Korea CDC had tallied 2,931 confirmed cases for the entire Republic of Korea, including 17 deaths. Outside of China, South Korea has the highest number of confirmed cases in the world.