What can you make of the recent COVID totals in the Armed Forces?

CW4 Glen Nardin — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 16:02:17 -0400

DOD COVID-19 Cumulative Totals were published by Defense.gov 10 June. I find it odd that the Navy outpaces the Army by over 700 cases. Yet, the Marines and Air Force combined have less than 700 fewer cases than the Army. I wondered how this would look if you compare Covid cases based on total personnel each branch. Based on 2018 number of total members by branch published by Statista.com, Navy leads with 0.8%. Army shows only half that number with 0.4%, while the combined Air Force and Marines show 0.2% and 0.3% respectively.

The Navy and Air Force are roughly the same size in total personnel. The Marines number less than 40% of the Army. What are your thoughts on these ratios?

Response by SPC Kevin Ford made Jun 11 at 2020 4:12 PM

SPC Kevin Ford — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 16:12:01 -0400

The navy has a unique problem with needing to be in close quarters, it is very difficult to social distance. We are also looking at raw numbers, not per capita. Per capita the Navy looks even worse. I'm not exactly sure on the reason for the disparity between the Army, Marines and AF though.

It's interesting to look at the deaths and how many hit the civilians vs active duty. I'm betting that has to do with the average age of the civilian supporting personnel. I bet there are a lot of military retirees in there.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Jun 11 at 2020 4:14 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 16:14:02 -0400

I can say that the rate of infection of SMs is significantly higher than civilians, like 4.4 times higher.

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Jun 11 at 2020 4:14 PM

CPT Jack Durish — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 16:14:59 -0400

I expect that the Navy suffers more cases than the Army because they're trapped in tight quarters

Response by CW4 Guy Butler made Jun 11 at 2020 4:56 PM

CW4 Guy Butler — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 16:56:56 -0400

Close to half the cases were from the Theodore Roosevelt for the Navy. Army numbers may include Army Reserve, plus the Army is everywhere (including COVID-19 response). Big changes from two weeks ago:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/taskandpurpose.com/.amp/news/army-reserve-identifies-soldier-died-coronavirus

No idea on the Air Force or Marines.

Army Reserve identifies soldier who died of COVID-19

Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Sgt. Simon Zamudio at this time

Response by SSG(P) Joshua Stulman (Retired) made Jun 11 at 2020 5:19 PM

SSG(P) Joshua Stulman (Retired) — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 17:19:00 -0400

I’m surprised the Army numbers aren’t higher given all the Guard activations.