Top U.S. General, Members Of Joint Chiefs Of Staff Quarantining After Virus Exposure

Sebastian Murdock
·Senior Reporter, HuffPost
Updated ·2 min read

Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and several other top military leaders are reportedly quarantining on Tuesday after a senior Coast Guard official tested positive for the coronavirus.

Though Milley has so far tested negative for the virus, he and other defense officials are taking precautionary measures after the vice commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, Adm. Charles Ray, tested positive on Monday. The Coast Guard said Ray is quarantining at home and officials have started contact tracing.

Ray recently attended several meetings at the Pentagon with members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, CNN reported. Adm. Michael Gilday, the chief of Naval operations; Gen. Charles Brown, the chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force; and Gen. John Raymond, the chief of space operations, are all working from home, sources told CNN.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump returned to the White House Monday after a three-day stay at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he was being treated for the coronavirus. Still infected on Monday evening, Trump stood on the White House balcony and removed his mask for a photo op.

“Don’t be afraid of Covid,” Trump tweeted earlier that day. “Don’t let it dominate your life.”

The virus has been spreading rapidly throughout Trump’s orbit in the last week.

More than 210,000 Americans have died from the virus.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.