Public Affairs Office
FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (May 31, 2020) — During a two-day period, military health professionals with the General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital at Fort Leonard Wood conducted COVID-19 testing on about 500 Soldiers and trainees assigned to the 1st Battalion, 48th Infantry Regiment, and of those, about 70 had positive test results. Due to the aggressive mitigation strategies in place, the number of infected and exposed individuals has been minimized to the greatest extent possible, and contained within one training unit. Affected individuals have been isolated or quarantined as appropriate and in accordance with CDC guidelines. In addition, all impacted buildings, dining facilities and training areas within the unit area have been sanitized in accordance with CDC guidelines.
Upon arrival to Fort Leonard Wood, all 500 Soldiers and trainees were medically screened and tested by GLWACH health professionals at the beginning of their 14-day controlled monitoring phase of basic combat training and all test results at that time were negative. Four days after the end of the group’s controlled monitoring phase, a trainee reported to Harper In-processing Health Screening Facility with symptoms, and immediately, all 500 were tested again, resulting in the increased positive test results.
All those who tested positive are being cared for and monitored according to CDC guidelines and have been isolated to prevent the potential spread to others. Most of those who tested positive are asymptomatic and none have been hospitalized at GLWACH.
Contact tracing continues to be performed and aggressive measures are continuing to be used to ensure that further spread of COVID-19 is minimized. Fort Leonard Wood continues the strict enforcement of social distancing and the wearing of cloth face coverings to mitigate the spread of the virus.
Our people — military, civilians and families — and their health, welfare and safety are our highest priority. We continue to assess, refine and coordinate prevention and response efforts on post and in the local area to ensure the well-being of our personnel and local population. Fort Leonard Wood leadership remain in close coordination with local and state public health authorities and have assessed that the local communities are not at an increased risk.
Additional information can be found on the installation website: https://home.army.mil/wood/index.php/coronavirus.
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About Fort Leonard Wood
Fort Leonard Wood is a thriving and prosperous installation that has evolved from a small basic training post more than 75 years ago to a premier Army Center of Excellence that trains more than 80,000 military and civilians each year.
Fort Leonard Wood is home to the U.S Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and three U.S. Army schools: the U.S. Army Engineer School; U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear School; and the U.S. Army Military Police School. In addition to training engineer, CBRN and military police specialties for the Army, Fort Leonard Wood also provides gender-integrated in-processing and Basic Combat Training for new Soldiers.
Fort Leonard Wood also hosts and trains with the largest Marine Corps Detachment and Air Force Squadron on any Army installation as well as a large Navy construction detachment.
More information about Fort Leonard Wood is at: https://home.army.mil/wood/index.php/about/mission