"On Monday, the Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Charles Ray, tested positive for COVID-19. He was tested the same day, after feeling mild symptoms over the weekend", the statement said.
BREAKING: U.S. Coast Guard second-in-command, Admiral Charles Ray, tests positive for #COVID19. pic.twitter.com/SicRxDEEXQ
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) October 6, 2020
Several senior US military leaders are self-quarantining after meeting with the vice commander of the Coast Guard, who recently tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement on Tuesday.
"We are aware that Vice Commandant [Charles] Ray has tested positive for COVID-19 and that he was at the Pentagon last week for meetings with other senior military leaders", Hoffman said in the release. "Some meeting attendees included other Service Chiefs ... Out of an abundance of caution, all potential close contacts from these meetings are self-quarantining and have been tested this morning".
The release said no Pentagon officials who were in contact with Ray have shown COVID-19 symptoms, and no other senior leaders in the Defence Department have until now tested positive for the disease.
CNN, citing several US defense officials, reported that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, Chief of Staff of the US Air Force Charles Brown, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday, and Chief of Space Operations General John Raymon are among those required to self-quarantine after being exposed to Ray.
On 1 October, Trump announced he tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The US president was treated and discharged from the Walter Reed Medical Centre on 5 October and continues to recover at the White House.
