Massive infection during military mission draws criticism

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Korean military faces growing criticism after more than 80% of the 301 members of the Cheonghae unit tested positive for the coronavirus while conducting anti-piracy operations in waters off Africa .

Test results (COVID-19) on the unit’s 301 crew members showed 247 were positive and 50 were negative. The four-person samples were indecipherable, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Monday.

The government sent two KC-330 tanker transport planes home to bring home all of the navy’s 4,400-ton class destroyer Munmu the Great. While 16 of them were sent to local hospitals for treatment, most of the remaining staff were isolated on the ship.

The military is expected to return to Korea on Tuesday afternoon. Once there, the sailors will undergo another round of viral tests before being sent to medical facilities for treatment.

The worst mass infection in the military since the COVID-19 outbreak in the country last February began with the unit which first reported six confirmed cases last Thursday. After that, the number of new confirmed cases reached 61 on Sunday and 179 on Monday.

According to the Defense Ministry, all crew members tested negative for PCR before boarding in February. But none of them had been vaccinated as before the start of vaccinations for military personnel.

Our Cheonghae unit had the rights and reasons to call for the UN vaccination, Representative Kang Dae-sik of the National Assembly’s National Defense Commission said on Sunday.

If (they) had not received vaccines when they embarked, active measures such as seeking UN cooperation should have been taken. At least the vaccinations should have been carried out for the personnel who would come into direct contact with the inhabitants of the port for the loading of the supplies.

While more analysis and contact tracing is needed before determining the route of infection, the record of destroyer operations shows a lack of caution in the midst of the worst pandemic of the 21st century.

The destroyer docked at a port near the Gulf of Aden to load supplies from June 28 to July 1. A day after the ship left port, a sailor reported cold symptoms. Instead of testing for COVID-19, the unit simply gave him cold medicine. The sailor was not placed in isolation.

While several more started showing cold symptoms after a week, the unit performed rapid diagnostic tests, which are not as accurate as PCR tests, on 40 of the crew members on the 10th. July. The results were negative. Again, there was no additional disease control effort during this time.

With cooperation from a neighboring country, the unit sent samples from six sailors for more precise PCR testing on July 13. They tested positive after two days.

In short, the military had two weeks to implement stricter distancing guidelines or even isolation for the 301 servicemen since the first sailor showed symptoms of the coronavirus. Had the unit decided to take PCR testing and found confirmed cases earlier, the spread of infections could have been curbed.

Meanwhile, the military has claimed vaccine makers are banning the outbound shipment of vaccines. But health officials said there had been no discussion about it.

Regarding the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s claim not to allow the outbound shipment of vaccines, the Joint Chiefs of Staff should verify its facts. We have yet to discuss (the matter) in detail, KCDC chief Jeong Eun-kyeong said on Monday during a regular press briefing.

However, since we had to send the vaccines by air, I think we thought it was difficult to transport them. We were therefore unable to provide vaccines to (Cheonghae unit).

More than 70% of the approximately 1,300 troops serving overseas have been fully immunized so far, including crew members who will take over the mission of the Cheonghae unit, according to the Defense Ministry.

Following the massive infection of Navy sailors, the department and the JCS plan to offer crisis management guidelines for infectious diseases for units overseas.

By Kan Hyeong-woo ([email protected])

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