Defense Secretary Mark Esper is making it clear that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has no intent on testing its full 2.2 million-person force for the coronavirus.
During a virtual Pentagon press conference on Tuesday, Esper and Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke about the military’s plans for the coronavirus.
While they admitted that military testing capacity is at approximately 50%, there reportedly is no plan to test all military personnel.
According to Esper, testing the full military force would not be a good use of coronavirus testing kits.
“There’s no need to test the entire force,” Esper said. “That would not be a good use of tests.”
Additionally, Milley insists prioritized coronavirus tests for strategic forces and the nuclear triad. He has confirmed they have “all been tested and screened for COVID.”
He also confirmed approximately 20,000-30,000 tests per week are also being conducted for tier-two military forces, which are servicemen currently deployed overseas.
See Esper’s full press conference below:
Esper’s latest comments follow his previous interview where he explained the military’s prioritization system for coronavirus testing. During the press conference, he explained the tier system used to categorize individuals for testing.
Tier “zero” focuses on individuals exhibiting COVID-like symptoms.. Tier one is comprised of the country’s strategic forces, including deployed servicemen. Tier three is comprised of servicemen near deployment while tier four is the category all others are placed in.
Esper explained that they are looking at about 56,000 tests a week.
According to Esper, since tier four is the “broader population” of servicemen, “sentinel testing,” or random testing, will likely be implemented for the larger groups.
“Tier four is going to be the broader population, by which we do what we’re calling sentinel testing, whereby we randomly test groups of people to make sure to understand how many asymptomatic carriers may be out there,” he said.
Esper also confirmed the DOD is requesting additional coronavirus tests to meet the military and interagency needs while replenishing its stockpile.
