Civilians will continue to be the weak link in USFK’s coronavirus prevention efforts because they don’t have to follow the same rules as US military servicemembers:

A U.S. military contractor working at Eighth Army headquarters on Camp Humphreys has tested positive for coronavirus, the 10th case linked to U.S. Forces Korea, prompting new on-base restrictions to prevent complacency after more than a month of near confinement.

The latest infection underscored the vulnerability of the military community despite strict limitations on access and movement aimed at forming what commanders call “protective bubbles” to try to stop the coronavirus pandemic from spreading on bases across the divided peninsula.

Officials further tightened restrictions in a bid to prevent people from letting their guard down too soon as the overall pace of infections in South Korea has started to slow. Only 76 new cases were logged Tuesday, down from a high of 909 on Feb. 29, for a total of 9,037.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the military is even removing chairs from eating establishments now to enforce take out only dining on-post.

A lot of people don’t realize the bureaucracy that getting test kits out to the public has had to go through initially. I guess we will see if the President is able to get these foreign made test kits approved by the FDA in expedient manner:

South Korea’s president said Donald Trump asked South Korea for help with coronavirus testing kits and other equipment, and officials offered to send what they could as the United States struggles to cope with the pandemic.

Moon Jae-in’s comments come as the South reported a slight uptick in the number of confirmed cases on Tuesday, raising the total to 9,137 but remaining far below the peak of 909 infections on Feb. 29.

Authorities blamed a large jump in imported cases, prompting them to impose a two-week quarantine on all visitors arriving from the United States, in addition to that already imposed on Europeans.

Trump made the request during a 23-minute phone conversation to discuss cooperation against the virus, according to the Blue House.

“Yesterday, U.S. President Donald Trump made a request to us for the urgent provision of test kits and quarantine products,” Moon said Wednesday during a visit to Seegene Inc., a Seoul-based company that develops diagnostic solutions.

The comment elaborated on a transcript of the phone conversation showing that Moon was willing to provide as much equipment as it could spare but noted possible limitations because of the U.S. need for approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

“When President Moon explained that FDA approval may be required, President Trump said he would take immediate action to ensure that approval is granted within the day,” according to the transcript.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

The articles blaming foreigners for spreading coronavirus in South Korea has expanded to include the United States now:

As of Monday, the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. surpassed 33,400, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the third largest in the world after China and Italy. 

“As the number of virus patients increases quickly in the United States, health authorities should conduct virus tests on all arrivals from North America,” said Kim Woo-joo, a professor of infectious medicine at Korea University Guro Hospital.

Experts warned that the number of imported cases involving U.S. travelers could increase. Of the 14 new imported cases reported on Monday, eight of them were from the United States. 

Doctors said that arrivals from the United States should also be quarantined for two weeks even if they test negative for the virus because of the virus’ incubation period and possible asymptomatic carriers.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

USFK is now able to conduct their own coronavirus testing:

With the number of infections soaring in South Korea after a February outbreak in Daegu, U.S. Forces Korea restricted access to bases, implemented health checks at entry gates and ordered service members to avoid nonessential activities and travel outside the base.

However, USFK didn’t have the ability to conduct its own tests. It initially had to outsource patients and samples to an overwhelmed South Korean health system.

That changed on March 7 when the military stood up its own lab at the new hospital that opened last year on Camp Humphreys, allowing it to ramp up testing.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but of interest is that 250 USFK servicemembers and civilians have been tested with only 9 so far coming up positive. The lab at Camp Humphreys is also conducting only 10 test a day with the capacity to do about 80 if needed.

If possible maybe some of these test kits need to be shipped to the U.S. to help out there.

That did not take very long to make this common sense decision to postpone the Olympic Games until next year:

The 2020 Olympics, which were scheduled to begin July 24 in Tokyo, have been postponed to a date “no later than summer 2021” due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The International Olympic Committee announced the decision Tuesday amid mounting pressure from athletes and various stakeholders.

“In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community,” the IOC said in a statement.

Yahoo Sports

You can read more at the link.

Unless things drastically improve in the short term I don’t see how the Olympics can be held when many athletes are likely having a hard time even training for them right now:

Postponing the 2020 Olympics “may become inevitable” if the new coronavirus outbreak makes it impossible to hold the Games safely, Japan’s prime minister said Monday.

Shinzo Abe told parliament that Japan was still committed to a “complete” Games, but added: “if that becomes difficult, in light of considering athletes first, it may become inevitable that we make a decision to postpone.”

The comments were his first acknowledging the possibility that the Games may not open as scheduled on July 24 as the coronavirus continues to spread across the world.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Part I: 🇰🇷 KATCOM (Korean Augmentation to Commonwealth) troops were Korean soldiers attached to 1st Commonwealth Division in Korean War. KATCOMs were equipped & uniformed by the nations they worked with. KATCOM dissolved July 1954.#TheRememberedWar#KATCOM
Portrait by Ivor Hele. pic.twitter.com/ymrdtuqYX4

— United Nations Command (@UN_Command) March 23, 2020