KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea -- The 8th Medical Group took proactive and precautionary measures during the COVID-19 pandemic by standing up a screening tent outside of the clinic for service members who returned to Kunsan between March 6th-12th from international travel.
Service members who recently arrived to Kunsan were asked a series of travel history questions and to report any symptoms they may be experiencing in order to be reviewed by medical personnel. The 8th MDG reviewed each location the member visited to determine if the location was a hotspot for COVID-19. The medical professionals were then able to provide a recommendation to their unit’s leadership if the member needed to be restricted in their movement.
“We took out some of our War Reserve Material assets in order to have service member’s process through a safe COVID-19 screening process. The process has helped us better assess the status of service members and if they need to be restricted in movement,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Clare Reynolds, 8th Medical Support Squadron medical logistics flight commander. “We are here to take care of the team and our providers have been working extremely hard to make sure that everyone is taken care of.”
These precautionary measures help to minimize and prevent the spread of the virus to the base populace.
“We are looking at members who have returned to South Korea in the last 14 days, which is the typical incubation period for COVID-19, just to ensure they are not posing an added risk to our base population,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Sarah Cokely, 8th MDG Public Health officer. “Our base population we have here is relatively young and very healthy, so they are a very resilient group and we don’t expect a lot of health challenges.”