DoD Revises COVID-19 Guidelines

Washington Report

August 16, 2022

The Defense Department has changed its guidelines for handling COVID-19.

The revisions impact the military’s traveling, wearing masks and getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

The DoD’s Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness detailed the shifts in an Aug. 8 memo.

The memo, which marks the DoD’s second revision of its COVID-19 practices, includes these rules:

Installation commanders must change the Health Protection Condition Level at their bases using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Community Level in the local county. The CDC Community Levels – low, medium and high – note the degree of the community’s COVID-19 transmission. HPCON levels A, B and C correspond to the low, medium and high Community Levels, respectively.
Commanders must raise a base’s HPCON level no later than two weeks after the CDC raises a Community Level for the county containing the installation. The HPCON level may be lowered no sooner than two weeks than the Community Level’s lowering.
Base commanders no longer need “consistency in response and unity of messaging” from coordinating with other installation commanders.
Contact tracing will prioritize investigating “cases, clusters, and outbreaks involving high-risk congregate settings, unusual clusters of cases, and … novel or emerging variants that pose a significant risk for severe disease, hospitalization, or death."
Troops must self-screen for COVID-19 symptoms before entering DoD facilities or “interacting with members of the public in person as part of your official duties.” Those displaying COVID-19 symptoms or feeling ill must remain at home. The CDC has outlined the symptoms requiring self-screening.
In DoD schools, students no longer need to stay six feet apart.
Personnel must wear masks indoors and on DoD transportation including aircraft and boats, no matter their vaccination status or the DoD Community Level.
Wearing masks is also recommended for low-occupancy vehicles like cars and vans for all Community Levels. Previously, masks were required in such transportation during a “High” Community Level.
People are now up to date on COVID-19 vaccines after getting “all recommended COVID-19 vaccines, including any booster doses recommended when eligible.”
Once someone’s vaccination status is up to date, their close contacts no longer need to quarantine if COVID-19 infects that individual.
Close contacts of the infected without up to date COVID-19 vaccinations must quarantine for five days.
Meeting organizers must ensure attendees “follow the applicable requirements” for physical distancing in Section 5.2 of the DoD’s COVID-19 guidelines.
The commander of U.S. Transportation Command can now waive travel-related requirements “in order to continue execution of the Joint Deployment and Distribution Enterprise to protect and sustain the joint force globally.”
Evacuations and permanent station changes are now “mission-critical” as they address travel guidance.
DoD contracting officers may – instead of must – require contractor personnel to complete a risk assessment, including a self-health assessment, before traveling outside America.
Costs from travel-related testing may now be claimed as expenses.