Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 11 (Xinhua) In the face of the accelerated spread of the COVID-19 epidemic in the United States, Jerome Adams, director of the US Public Health Bureau, warned a week ago, "This will become our ‘ Pearl Harbor Moment ’ Or ‘ 9·11’ Moment. "
What has attracted much attention is that the epidemic situation in the US military is fierce, and it seems that this "dangerous statement" can also be applied. Up to now, there have been confirmed cases in 150 military bases and 4 aircraft carriers, and the number of confirmed cases of active servicemen has exceeded 2,200.
On April 8, American soldiers walked past a hospital in new york, USA. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Guo Ke)
Senior U.S. military officials said that the Covid-19 detection ability of the U.S. military still needs to be improved, and the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. military is expected to rise further.
Why is this well-equipped huge army so passive in the face of the epidemic? Some analysts believe that the slow anti-epidemic and "political virus" are the dual causes.
Pearl Harbor and West Point Military Academy were all recruited.
According to the US media "Global News Weekly", at least 150 US military bases in 41 States in the United States have confirmed cases of COVID-19. Well-known military institutions and bases, such as Pearl Harbor, Norfolk Military Port, West Point Military Academy and the United States Naval Academy, have not been spared.
According to the report, military bases in cities such as San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville and San Antonio are the most seriously affected, and Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, DC, has also received a large number of confirmed cases.
In addition, confirmed cases were found on four aircraft carriers, including Roosevelt, Reagan, carl vinson and Nimitz, and the epidemic situation of Roosevelt was the most serious.
An American F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter flew over the aircraft carrier Roosevelt on February 27th. The picture is from the US Navy.
According to the information released by John Heiten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Army, on April 9, local time, more than 400 US soldiers on this aircraft carrier tested positive for Covid-19, accounting for nearly 10% of all the officers and men on board.
Heiten said that there was also a "small-scale outbreak" on the Nimitz aircraft carrier currently docked at the military port in Washington State.
According to the data released by the Pentagon on April 10th, local time, a total of 2,209 Americans in active service tested positive for Covid-19, and one of them died.
Insufficient detection ability
Epidemic situation or continuous spread
"Should not put ‘ Roosevelt ’ The no.1 incident is regarded as a special case, and it is necessary to plan ahead and prevent problems before they happen. " Heiten warned.
On the 9th local time, U.S. Navy Operations Minister Gilday said: "Our challenge now is that we can’t carry out a large number of tests quickly. I don’t know when we can reach the level we hope. "
American soldiers transferred sailors from the Roosevelt on April 4. The picture is from the US Navy.
It took only about one month from the publication of the first confirmed case to the cumulative number of cases exceeding 2,200.
The Pentagon announced on March 7 that a marine who had just returned to the United States from overseas was diagnosed in Virginia. After that, the number of confirmed cases increased gradually, breaking through 100 cases on March 22nd, 1,000 cases on April 3rd and 2,000 cases on April 8th.
Some analysts believe that there are two factors in the acceleration of the US military epidemic: First, in military bases and warships, the personnel density is high, and there is a lack of independent living places. A large number of soldiers need to share places such as work, living and dining. Second, the US military is deployed all over the world, and the flow of US military personnel is very frequent.
"political virus"
Contribute to the spread of the epidemic
The American media reported that there is another factor for the rapid spread of the US military epidemic — — Some senior U.S. military personnel are infected with "political virus", which puts the so-called image of the U.S. military and superior preferences above the health of officers and men, resulting in slow response measures and delaying the opportunity to fight the epidemic.
The "Roosevelt" storm that made a lot of noise a while ago is an example.
On the way from Vietnam to Guam on March 22, the aircraft carrier Roosevelt found two confirmed cases on board. With the aggravation of the epidemic, crozet, the then captain, sent a distress letter to the top of the US military on March 30, saying that "the virus is spreading continuously and accelerating", hoping to arrange for the crew on board to disembark for treatment, detection and isolation as soon as possible.
After this letter was exposed by the media, it immediately caused widespread reports. Modley, then acting secretary of the navy, dismissed crozet. He also argued afterwards that this letter "makes people think that the navy is ineffective in responding to the epidemic and the government is ineffective in responding to the epidemic."
Modley held a press conference at the Pentagon on April 2. The picture is from official website, the US Department of Defense.
Crozet’s dismissal caused great waves in the United States. Many people think that his dismissal is a retaliation by the top US military.
Doyle hodges, an American military expert, commented in an article: "When Modley announced the dismissal of crozet, he showed hypocrisy, incompetence and indifference to his subordinates."
When crozet left the ship, a large number of officers and men shouted crozet’s name to pay tribute to him, and related videos were widely spread on social media. Crozet, who was in the eyes of the public opinion storm, also tested positive afterwards.
The most ironic thing is that Modley, the US acting secretary of the navy who fired crozet, lectured the officers and men of the Roosevelt and criticized crozet for being "too naive" and "too stupid", but it caused public anger and ended up with an apology and resignation. (Reporter: Liu Yang; Editor: Sun Hao)
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