Another active-duty Marine tested positive for COVID-19 at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, a base spokesman told The San Diego Union-Tribune Wednesday.
The Marine tested positive late Tuesday, according to Marine Capt. Matthew Gregory. He is now quarantined at his home as per San Diego County health guidelines, Gregory said.
Like other military cases, a contact investigation is now underway to identify those who might have come into contact with the Marine.
He is the third Marine at Miramar to test positive. The first, attached to a 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing squadron, had recently returned to the area after leave in Washington state. The Marine Corps has not named the Marine’s squadron.
The two other cases, including the most recent, involve Marines assigned to the base, Gregory said. None are involved with the ongoing quarantine of Grand Princess cruise ship passengers on the base.
MCAS Miramar is the site of a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quarantine site where those passengers have been riding out a 14-day quarantine.
Gregory said more than 100 of the passengers have been flown home on three separate flights from the base since Friday.
He said between 240-245 passengers remain in quarantine on the base. No additional cruise ship passengers are expected at this time, Gregory said.
This brings the total number of presumptive-positive military cases in San Diego to eight. Five sailors, including two working on Navy ships at Naval Base San Diego, have also tested positive.
Three additional sailors are part of a cluster of cases at a San Diego Training Support Center schoolhouse on Naval Base San Diego. The Navy announced the schoolhouse is closed “until further notice” Tuesday.
___
© 2020 The San Diego Union-Tribune
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
