A closer look at soldiers with COVID-19 revealed that those with the most severe cases of the virus tended to also have underlying health conditions, one study shows.
That study, published in the military's Medical Surveillance Monthly Report, analyzed the virus' impact on 219 active-duty soldiers. As has been true for the duration of the pandemic, a small percentage of those cases required hospitalization -- 12 soldiers or just more than 5 percent.
Of those 12 hospitalized soldiers, three of them had high blood pressure, more than half of them were obese, and half had a neurological disorder such as migraines or traumatic brain injury. Four of the 12 soldiers required hospitalization in intensive care units -- those four had three or more underlying health conditions each.
This study's results reflect those of the civilian population -- those more severely affected by the virus tend to have underlying health conditions. According to reporting from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly half of COVID-19 patients with underlying health conditions are hospitalized and die at rates 12 times higher than patients without known underlying health conditions.
Although the Department of Defense this week surpassed 14,000 total COVID-19 cases across the force, the relatively young, healthy and fit population of the active-duty component has put up a strong fight against the virus, showing lower fatality rates and higher recovery rates than the general population. The active-duty Army population has so far experienced zero fatalities as a result of the virus.
However, that same population -- specifically those progressing through entry-level training operations -- is experiencing high rates of infection. A group of 640 recruits that reported to Fort Benning in Georgia and began training operations with zero COVID-19 cases was 22 percent COVID-19 positive by the end of the first week of training, following a 14-day quarantine. Mitigation efforts at the installation have not been altered in response to this outbreak.
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