Pentagon Unveils Plan To Test All Service Members

The Military Times reports:

The Defense Department has set a goal to be testing 60,000 service members a day for coronavirus by June, but they won’t get there all at once. The plan is to start testing the most at-risk and most essential troops first, then work their way toward the rest of the force as testing capacity increases.

Of highest priority are active and Reserve health care workers at field hospitals and other alternative care centers, followed closely by high-end counter-terror units and members of the nuclear triad, including bomber crews, submariners and ballistic missile units.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper has signed off on a four-tier scheme: tier one would include critical national capabilities, like nuclear forces; tier two includes deployed forces, tier three includes forward-deployed or redeploying forces; and tier four is the remainder of the force.

The goal is to test 60,000 troops a day by June, starting with those most at-risk and essential.https://t.co/eBdqXSFYvl pic.twitter.com/6wpfPTRm4u

— Military Times (@MilitaryTimes) April 22, 2020