当唐纳德·特朗普总统向公众保证他的政府正在妥善处理新的冠状病毒时，国防部的一份文件显示，官员们正在为COVID-19可能产生重大全球影响的可能性做准备。
这一警告是周四参谋长联席会议每日情报简报的一部分新闻周刊官员们预计，COVID-19将“有可能”在未来30天内成为全球大流行。
官员们预计全球病例将会蔓延。周二，国家医学情报中心(NCMI)提高了大流行预警的风险。根据由获得的一份报告摘要，由于中国境外持续的人与人之间的传播，它从可能的危机WATCHCON 2发展到迫在眉睫的危机WATCHCON 1新闻周刊。
自去年12月首次被发现以来，COVID-19已经影响到了每一个可居住的大陆，感染了全球超过82，000人，其中可能包括美国的65人。在美国的病例中，疾病控制和预防中心(CDC)确认了两例不明原因的病例，表明了社区传播的可能性。然后在周六，华盛顿州的一名妇女成为美国第一个死亡病例。
随着COVID-19继续在世界范围内传播，部署在世界各地的国防部成员面临的风险增加了，一名服务人员已经检测出阳性。美国驻朝鲜部队星期二证实，驻扎在韩国韦格万的卡罗尔军营的一名23岁的士兵是已知的第一名携带病毒的军人，他的妻子在星期六被检测为阳性。
“国防部不仅担心COVID-19对任务准备的影响，还担心通过返回可能已经暴露的成员将病毒无意中传播到美国的风险，”一名五角大楼高级官员告诉记者新闻周刊。
周三，旧金山，人们在唐人街的格兰特大街上行走时戴着口罩。周六，美国报道了首例新冠状病毒死亡，涉及一名华盛顿人。
当被问及对此有何评论时，国防部发言人杰西卡·马克斯韦尔(Jessica R. Maxwell)表示，国防部已经“制定了应急计划，并正在采取措施教育和保护我们的军事和文职人员、家庭成员和基地社区，以防止大范围爆发。”但最终，“个别受影响的地理指挥部的指挥官将会并且正在根据他们的情况需要向他们的部队发布具体的指导方针。”
军方已经采取措施遏制病毒的传播，包括禁止服役人员、国防部文职人员和承包商前往中国大陆，以及非必要的韩国旅行。USFK服务会员也不得参加非必要的非安装活动，如购物、去酒吧和电影院以及在餐馆吃饭。
美国疾病预防控制中心和卫生与公众服务部的卫生官员认为，由于美国还没有出现持续的社区传播，公众面临的风险很低。但是，他们正在为那一刻做准备，国家免疫和呼吸疾病中心的主任南希·梅索尼埃博士说这是不可避免的。
“与其说这是一个是否还会发生的问题，不如说是一个确切的何时会发生以及这个国家有多少人会有严重疾病的问题，”梅索尼埃说。
一名五角大楼高级官员告诉记者:“简报文件中使用的术语“大流行”描述的是全球爆发，而“流行病”将仅限于一个国家。”新闻周刊。根据疾病预防控制中心的说法，在大流行期间，几个国家或几个大洲的大量人口受到影响。
世界卫生组织拒绝将疫情归类为大流行，声称这不会改变应对措施，并可能导致不必要的恐惧。但是，据梅索尼埃说，这是形势的发展方向。她表示，大流行的两个标准——导致死亡和持续人际传播的病毒——已经得到满足，我们正在“更接近”满足第三个标准:全球传播。
“这非常严重，”美国总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)上周六表示。对于在世界各地部署和旅行的军人来说，COVID-19的传播给他们的健康和安全带来了新的风险。
EXCLUSIVE: DEFENSE DEPARTMENT EXPECTS CORONAVIRUS WILL 'LIKELY' BECOME GLOBAL PANDEMIC IN 30 DAYS, AS TRUMP STRIKES SERIOUS TONE
As President Donald Trump assured the public his administration was properly handling the new coronavirus, a document from the Department of Defense showed that officials are preparing for the possibility that COVID-19 may have a significant global impact.
The warning came as part of Thursday's Joint Chief of Staff daily intelligence brief and, according to a document obtained by Newsweek, officials expect COVID-19 will "likely" become a global pandemic within the next 30 days.
Officials have expected global cases would spread. On Tuesday, the National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI) raised the Risk of Pandemic warning. It went from WATCHCON 2, a probable crisis, to WATCHCON 1, an imminent crisis, due to sustained human-to-human transmission outside of China, according to a report summary obtained by Newsweek.
COVID-19 has touched every inhabitable continent, infecting more than 82,000 people worldwide since it was first identified last December, including potentially 65 people in the United States. Of the cases in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed two were of unknown origin, indicating the possibility of community spread. Then on Saturday, a woman in Washington state became the first death in America.
As COVID-19 continues to spread worldwide, the risk to DoD members deployed throughout the world increases, and one service member has already tested positive. United States Forces Korea (USFK) confirmed Tuesday that a 23-year-old soldier stationed at Camp Carroll, located in Waegwan, South Korea, was the first service member known to have the virus and his wife tested positive on Saturday.
"The DoD is concerned not only the impact COVID-19 has on mission readiness, but the risk to inadvertently spread the virus to the U.S. by returning members who may have been exposed," a senior Pentagon official told Newsweek.
People wear surgical masks as they walk along Chinatown's Grant Avenue on Wednesday in San Francisco. On Saturday, the first death of new coronavirus was reported in the U.S. involving a person in Washington.
When asked for comment, Jessica R. Maxwell, a DOD spokesperson, said the DoD has "contingency plans in place and are taking steps to educate and safeguard our military and civilian personnel, family members and base communities in preventing widespread outbreak." But ultimately, "Commanders of individually affected geographic commands will be and are issuing specific guidance to their forces as their situations may require."
The military has already taken steps to curb the spread of the virus, including prohibiting service members, DoD civilians and contractors from traveling to mainland China, as well as nonessential travel to South Korea. USFK service members are also restricted from attending non-essential off-installation activities, such as going shopping or to bars and movie theaters and eating at restaurants.
Health officials from the CDC and Department of Health and Human Services maintain the risk to the general public is low, as the U.S. hasn't seen sustained community spread. But, they're preparing for that moment and Dr. Nancy Messonnier, CDC's director of the Center for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said it was inevitable.
"It's not so much a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness," Messonnier said.
The use of the term "pandemic" in the briefing documents described a global outbreak, whereas an "epidemic" would be confined to a country," a senior Pentagon official told Newsweek. During a pandemic, a large number of people in several countries or continents are affected, according to the CDC.
The World Health Organization has rejected classifying the outbreak as a pandemic, claiming it doesn't change response measures and can cause unnecessary fear. But, that's where the situation is headed, according to Messonnier. She said two criteria of a pandemic–a virus causing illnesses resulting in death and sustained person-to-person spread–have already been met and we're moving "closer" to meeting the third criteria: worldwide spread.
"This is very serious," President Donald Trump, the commander in Chief, said on Saturday. For members of the military who deploy and travel worldwide, the spread of COVID-19 poses a new risk to their health and safety.
