July 3 (UPI) — The number of cases of coronavirus among active-duty military personnel has more than doubled in the past three weeks, according to information published by the Department of Defense.
As of Wednesday, 6,493 U.S. service members currently have the virus — up from 2,807 on June 10.
The number of cumulative cases listed on the departments’s website Thursday was 12,521, up from 6,864 cumulative cases on June 3.
The Army has surpassed the Navy in terms of the number of cases, with 3,836 as of Thursday, compared to 3,662.
COVID-19 has claimed the lives of three service members since the pandemic began.
According to Johns Hopkins University’s running totals, there have been at least 2.7 million cases of COVID-19 in the United States, with 128,651 deaths.
Pentagon officials say the increase in cases at military installations happened in areas seeing increased case counts among the civilian population.
Thomas McCaffery, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, named Florida, Texas, Arizona and some parts of California as showing increased case counts.
McCaffery also said the military is increasing testing for individuals who do not have symptoms.
