Speaking to the American Forces Network during a recent livestreamed interview from Yokota Air Base in Tokyo, Japan, US Forces Japan Command Chief Master Sgt. Richard Winegardner Jr. recently issued a stern warning to military troops who have been using apps such as Tinder and Bumble to hook up on the island nation while they are supposed to be quarantining.
"We're seeing some folks that ... are like, 'OK, I'm in here but I can just kind of sneak out.' What I would ask is if you know that somebody is doing this ... ask them to stop," Winegardner said, without naming any individuals or specific restricted locations, according to Stars and Stripes.
He did note that troops have been “hooking up with folks” with the help of popular dating apps.
The warning comes as US civilians and service members have been required to undergo a 14-day “restriction of movement” after arriving on the island nation. After the two-week period, individuals are then required to take a COVID-19 test, which must return negative results before they are released from quarantine.
This policy was implemented in July after several spates of positive diagnoses of COVID-19 were logged among US personnel in Japan.
"They are not supposed to go out, but that doesn't mean you go in," Winegardner added, speaking of individuals outside of quarantine.
He noted that US personnel not restricted by quarantine have brought the highly contagious disease back to military facilities after being seen in unauthorized establishments and locations.
“Wow, big surprise when you are bringing that stuff back,” Winegardner said. “Service members are getting popped left and right for going to places that they don’t belong, in areas that they don’t belong … bar districts.”
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported a record-high 472 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday, bringing the city’s total to 13,163 COVID-19 cases. That total has since climbed to 14,022, with 309 new cases of COVID-19 reported on Tuesday.
“It seems like a few members of our team are starting to lose focus,” Col. Thomas Matelski, commander of US Army Garrison Japan, noted in a recent video uploaded to social media.
“Recently we’ve seen situations with our youth and soldiers in off-limits party areas in Tokyo. Some seem to think that rules are there to be broken.”
“Leadership will take quick and appropriate action when situations like these occur. Those actions can range from immediate 14-day restriction of movement, potential [Uniform Code of Military Justice] action, an early return of dependants or barment from military facilities in Japan,” he warned.
