The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

was confirmed to have reached the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

' Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in March 2020. Since April 2020, the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...

has directed bases to not publicize case statistics.

Timeline

March 24

On 24 March, the first case in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base was confirmed. It was announced that day that a navy sailor tested positive for the virus.

March 25

On March 25, the school at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base moved to distance learning in order to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

April 15

After initial precautions were introduced on March 24, Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay issued an updated series of procedures to prevent illness from spreading to any residents, stationed personnel, or detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Base. These rules included a mandatory quarantine of two weeks following arrival on the installation.

May 2

Due to prohibitions on direct contact and travel due to the pandemic, lawyers and others plan to video-chat with the five defendants on trial in the ''

United States v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed ''United States v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, et al.'' is the trial of five alleged Al-Qaeda members for aiding the September 11, 2001 attacks. Charges were announced by Brigadier General Thomas W. Hartmann on February 11, 2008 at a press confere ...

'' case, one of the trials related to the

September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

. Some of the defendants— Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,

Walid bin Attash Walid Muhammad Salih bin Mubarak bin Attash ( ar, وليد محمد صالح بن مبارك بن عتش; born 1978) is a Yemeni prisoner held in extrajudicial detention at the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camp and is suspected of pla ...

, Ramzi bin al-Shibh,

Ammar al-Baluchi Ammar Al-Baluchi ( ar, عمار البلوشي, ; also transliterated as Amar Al-Balochi, born Ali Abdul Aziz Ali,Shannon, Elaine. ''Time''Al-Qaeda Moneyman Caught 1 May 2003 29 August 1977) is a Pakistani citizen in U.S. custody at Guantanamo B ...

, and Mustafa Ahmad al Hawsawi—retain lawyers considered "at-risk" by the Department of Defense or are considered at-risk themselves, preventing direct communication. Regular quarterly visits are set to resume by August.

May 28

On May 28 a group of 15 U.S. senators, including prominent senators Bernie Sanders (I) and Elizabeth Warren (D), wrote a letter expressing their concern that there would be a significant outbreak of COVID-19 on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.

Impact

On health care

The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base has a small hospital on its grounds. The hospital has been administering temperature checks, and sending some samples to the U.S. government to test. The prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base are unable to enter the U.S. for healthcare, so the Pentagon sends out medical teams for serious treatments. The military has said that they have not tested any of the prisoners, because none of them met the CDC guidelines for testing. They have also refused to state how many have been tested, as to not "jeopardize operations." It is unclear whether or not there are any working ventilators at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.

On at risk populations

The detainee population of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base ranges in age from mid-30s to 72 years old. Older prisoners with underlying health conditions like heart conditions and diabetes have been moved away from younger prisoners.

On education

The school on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base moved to distance learning on March 25, and was the last

Department of Defense Education Activity The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) is a federal school system headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, responsible for planning, directing, coordinating, and managing prekindergarten through 12th grade educational programs on behal ...

(DODEA) school to do so. Classes for students continue online through Google Classroom. It is unknown whether the 8 seniors at the school will be able to gather for their June 5 graduation.

References

{{COVID-19 pandemic in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base Guantanamo Bay Naval Base Guantanamo Bay Naval Base Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the military United States Navy in the 21st century