Asia-Pacific
Contractor's wife at Camp Humphreys tests positive for coronavirus, raising US Forces Korea’s total to 15
Stars and Stripes
April 2, 2020
Customers wait to enter the commissary at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Friday, March 27, 2020. Escalated health protection measures put limits on the number of people who can be inside the store at one time. (Matthew Keeler/Stars and Stripes)
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CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — The wife of an American military contractor who tested positive for coronavirus also has been infected, officials said Thursday, raising to 15 the number of cases affiliated with U.S. Forces Korea.
The woman, also an American, was tested after her husband who works at Camp Humphreys received positive results on Wednesday, garrison commander Col. Michael Tremblay said.
She last visited the base on Tuesday. Both patients have been isolated in their off-post residence, he added.
U.S. and South Korean officials are conducting contact tracing to determine whether anybody else may have been exposed to the virus, USFK said in a separate press release.
Clean teams also are thoroughly sanitizing areas on post that the couple visited, it said.
Camp Humphreys, which is home to the U.S. military headquarters, has reported seven cases — all but one since another American contractor tested positive on March 24.
Before that, most infections affiliated with USFK had been on bases in the southeastern city of Daegu and surrounding areas, which were at the center of South Korea’s outbreak.
Only two soldiers have been infected. The others have been military dependents, contractors and South Korean employees.
Meanwhile, South Korea on Thursday reported a slight decline in its nationwide tally, saying 89 new cases were logged the day before compared with 101 the previous day, raising its total to 9,976.
The numbers have hovered around 150 or fewer cases for three weeks, but authorities warned against complacency due to continued cluster outbreaks and infections imported from abroad.
On Wednesday, South Korea began requiring all travelers arriving from other countries to self-quarantine for two weeks to prevent further spread of the virus.