'Protective bubbles': How two Army generals stopped the spread of coronavirus among their soldiers

When the senior U.S. Army officer in Italy ordered the gyms on Army installations in Vicenza closed starting Feb. 24, it wasn’t a popular decision.

Cloutier is one of two generals that Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville have highlighted repeatedly in recent press conferences as examples of military leaders who have excelled in keeping their forces largely safe from the coronavirus. The other is Gen. Robert “Abe” Abrams, who commands all U.S. forces in South Korea.

Abrams had already taken several steps to get ahead of the outbreak: issuing the advice now familiar to most Americans about social distancing, washing hands and avoiding sick people; beefing up his headquarters so the staff could monitor the outbreak 24 hours a day; and imposing a 14-day quarantine on any member of the military community who’d been to China recently. “At our peak, we had 77 service members, family members and civilians in self-quarantine who had visited China,” he said.

The general also shut down all Defense Department schooling for U.S. children on the peninsula and placed all bars, restaurants and movie theaters off-limits to U.S. Forces Korea personnel and their families. The new rules, which remain in place, mean U.S. Forces Korea personnel and their family members are allowed off base only to visit medical providers, grocery stores and pharmacies, as well as to travel to and from work.

No single measure has proved more important than any other in controlling the outbreak, according to Murray. “The entire package is required,” he wrote.

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