Keesler BMT: Just 1 COVID case

The Air Force is relying on early, and often, testing to curb the coronavirus’ spread at Basic Military Training (BMT), although 60 percent of those recruits were asymptomatic. About 200 Airmen in BMT have tested positive over the last four months, or about 2 percent of the AF’s BMT recruits, 2nd Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Andrea D. Tullos said during a July 10 Pentagon briefing. Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, is the main BMT location. It has trained 8,700 recruits since mid-March. Each are checked upon arrival and regularly throughout boot camp, and are isolated if testing positive. The AF has found most COVID-19 cases in BMT through proactive testing. All infected Airmen have returned to training without hospitalization. Most have completed basic training. The majority of cases have occurred at Lackland, which until this year had been the lone AF boot camp since 1968. Keesler AFB, Miss., became a secondary boot camp early this year. There has been one case since it began hosting basic training due to the pandemic. Keesler’s first formal flight of trainees graduated July 10. The base will continue bringing in 60 recruits a week through Sept. 29. The AF hasn’t decided whether to keep it running there in FY 2021. Splitting BMT has “successfully reduced the stress on Lackland infrastructure while maintaining quality training and enabling us to sustain our production goals,” Tullos said.  (Source: AF Magazine 07/09/20) https://www.airforcemag.com/most-air-force-recruits-with-covid-19-show-no-symptoms/ The 81st Medical Group at Keesler has been a forerunner in the fight against COVID-19 on the Gulf Coast. The Microbiology Department has been testing all of the COVID samples for Keesler beneficiaries. Keesler Medical Center is one of the few hospitals across the AF to have the rapid platform, which  makes it possible for lab technicians to get COVID test results in about 45 minutes. Before the rapid platform became available, patients would have to wait days to see test results.