Analysis / Covid-19

Covid-19 Response Update: September 25-October 2

Combating Covid-19 Series

This is CSIS’s weekly roundup of major updates on the military and the novel coronavirus since Friday, September 25. It explores what the military has done to combat Covid-19 and how the military has in turn been affected by the virus.

New Department of Defense (DoD) cases of Covid-19 continue to hold relatively steady this week with the 7-day average declining by 1.5 percent to 390 new cases. This marks the second week of stable new DoD cases. Deaths have risen by two since last week, reaching 97 as of this Friday, October 2.

Major Updates

  • September 26: The $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package proposed by House Democrats does not include stimulus funding for defense contractors. DoD has sought $10 billion to reimburse defense contractors’ coronavirus-related expenses.
  • October 2: DoD has downplayed the national security implications of President Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis, stating that “there’s been no change to DoD alert levels.”

Military Cases of Covid-19

How DoD cases have been trending over time is broken down below, by new cases; total cases; active cases in the DoD; and across the military services.

Methodological note: 1) Monday, Wednesday, and Friday totals are divided across the intervening days and weekends since DoD Covid-19 updates are only released during the work week on a M-W-F basis. 2) Adjustments were made on April 9 and April 15 when new cases where negative. These days were totaled and divided by the previous day to account for the correction. 3) DoD appeared to change the way cases were reported between April 15-Aprilt 16. A resulting spike in cases on April 16 was divided over the two prior days to account for this methodological shift.

This weekly update is made possible by the International Security Program at CSIS.

(Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

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