Outbreak at Fort Benning caused county’s COVID-19 cases to surge, analysis finds
Recently confirmed COVID-19 infections at Fort Benning caused a surge in the total number of coronavirus cases for Chattahoochee County, a Ledger-Enquirer analysis found.
As of June 18, 305 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Chattahoochee County — a jump from only 39 recorded infections three weeks ago. That’s an increase of roughly 682%, and nearly half of the cases come from the post.
To date, one coronavirus-related death has been reported in Chattahoochee County. She was a 54-year-old African-American woman with no underlying health conditions, according to state data. Only seven Chattahoochee residents have tested positive for COVID-19 while in the hospital.
Terry Beckwith, a spokesperson for Martin Army Community Hospital, told the Ledger-Enquirer that all residents and soldiers in training at the post who test positive for COVID-19 are counted among Chattahoochee’s totals.
“The Chattahoochee increase is, in part, related to 142 (soldiers and trainees) at Fort Benning testing positive — that’s about half of the cases reported in the county to date,” said Nancy Nydam, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Public Health.
Fort Benning, one of the nation’s largest military installations, has provided the public with few updates regarding positive COVID-19 cases.
It’s possible the post accounts for an even larger portion of Chattahoochee’s confirmed cases. At the direction of the Department of Defense, Benning officials are not releasing the total number of confirmed infections at the post.
How are COVID-19 cases at Fort Benning counted?
In Georgia, a person who tests positive for the novel coronavirus is counted toward the total for their county of residence.
The post sits in portions of Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties. However, if you live at Fort Benning or are a soldier in training at the post, you are listed as a coronavirus case for Chattahoochee County, Beckwith said.
Civilians, contractors and soldiers who live off post and test positive would be counted as a case in the county where they live. It’s unclear how many of these cases account for coronavirus totals in Muscogee and other Columbus-area counties like Harris to the north and Lee in Alabama.
“If (they) live in Columbus or Phenix City and are tested on post, the results still are carried under the county (they) reside in,” Beckwith said.
As of June 17, there are 12,606 total COVID-19 cases within the Department of Defense. Of those, 8,365 are members of the military. The Army has 2,352 confirmed cases. Installations across the country, including Benning, have implemented policy changes to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The Ledger-Enquirer previously reported on some of the post’s training changes. Among Benning’s adjustments were:
- Keeping recruits segregated from others for two weeks and shifting social-distanced classroom instruction to that early phase of training, before they are detailed to unit assignments.
- Maintaining that “bubble” of protection around the recruits until all are cleared to join units and complete the final weeks of basic training, before moving on to more specialized instruction such as Ranger training or Airborne school.
- Enforcing the use of face coverings and social distancing measures.
The exact number of cases at Fort Benning is currently unknown. Officials aren’t providing updates about the total number of cases at individual bases or posts after the Pentagon ended the practice March 30.
“Services will no longer release the number of cases at each base, at any level of the illness,” said Ben Garrett, a Fort Benning spokesperson. “All commands will continue to work closely with the local communities to ensure the health and well-being of all, which includes releasing pertinent information in regard to COVID-19.”
In the course of a year, more than 70,000 personnel come to Benning for various training, career courses and schools, Garrett said. More than 17,000 permanent personnel support the post’s training efforts, and 70% of those permanent personnel live off post.
Post officials have briefed the public on a few of these cases. They issued a news release on May 31 about a group of trainees who recently tested positive.
Officials at Martin Army Community Hospital tested roughly 640 soldiers and trainees assigned to the 30th AG Battalion and 2nd Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment at the beginning of a 14-day controlled, monitoring phase. At that time, all but four test results were negative.
Eight days after the end of the monitoring period, the trainees were tested again and 142 (or 22%) of them tested positive, Benning officials said.
During the same time frame, Chattahoochee saw its COVID-19 cases increase. From May 29 to June 9, 141 new cases were reported in Chattahoochee. Over the past week, cases in the county have continued to rise.
What’s going on in Chattahoochee County?
When adjusted for population, Chattahoochee County ranks third for the number of coronavirus cases in the state of Georgia, 2837.47 cases per 100,000 residents. About 11,000 people live in the county, including Fort Benning residents, said Chattahoochee County manager Laura Lee Bernstein.
“About 80% of Chattahoochee County is Fort Benning,” she said. “People don’t realize that.”
The New York Times lists Chattahoochee as one of the nation’s hotspots for recent COVID-19 cases per resident, and there are concerns about how outbreaks at the post will affect others.
Officials at Benning and the county continue to have conversations about the virus, Bernstein said.
“We both have protocols in place to lessen the spread of it,” she said. “The hospitalization rates are very low. ...Both us and Fort Benning have worked well together to kind of control as much as we can.”
The post could account for some of the county’s more recent cases as well. Officials at Martin Army Community Hospital, Chattahoochee County, Fort Benning and the West Central Health District based in Columbus would not say how many of Chattahoochee’s cases came from the post.
Increased testing also plays a role in the uptick of confirmed cases statewide, Nydam, the state health department’s spokesperson, said.
“There is a combination of reasons for numbers to increase, including increased testing,” she said. “Last week, we had our single highest day of specimen collections (6,078) at our DPH (testing sites.) The last two weeks collectively have been the highest (sample) collection weeks since we started.”
As of June 18, Georgia reported 60,912 COVID-19 cases and 2,605 deaths.
This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 6:00 AM.