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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday.
According to an official statement from Joint Staff Spokesperson Col. Dave Butler, Gen. Milley is “experiencing very minor symptoms and can perform all of his duties from the remote location. He has received the COVID-19 vaccines including the booster.”
The statement added that all other Joint Chiefs of Staff, except for one, tested negative for the virus on Sunday.
“Gen. Milley’s most recent contact with President Biden was on Wednesday, January 12 at Gen. Odierno’s funeral. He tested negative several days prior to and every day following contact with the President until yesterday,” the statement said.
Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. David Berger, also tested positive for COVID-19, spokeswoman Marine Col. Kelly Frushour told Military Times.
“The performance of his duties will remain unaffected,” she said.
The diagnoses come less than one week after the US Army revealed that it has formally reprimanded nearly 3,000 soldiers who have refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine despite the Pentagon’s mandate.
According to an Army press release published on January 12, 2,994 soldiers were issued general officer written reprimands for refusing the vaccination order.
The service said 97 percent of active-duty soldiers have taken at least one dose of a vaccine, leaving roughly 9,500 members who have not taken the vaccine, including 5,921 who have requested temporary exemptions and 3,611 who have simply refused to take the vaccine.
The percentage of soldiers who are either partially or completely vaccinated drops to 78 percent in the Army Reserve.
As of January 11, the Army has approved just five of the 653 medical exemption requests and has disapproved 595. Of the 2,128 religious exemption requests, the Army has not approved a single applicant and has disapproved 162.
Earlier this month, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tested positive for COVID-19. At the time, Austin said in a statement that he is fully vaccinated and boosted, and was experiencing mild symptoms. He announced he would quarantine for five days following the positive test, per recently updated CDC protocol.
Austin was on holiday leave and had not been in contact with Pentagon staff for several days, and had not been around President Joe Biden since Dec. 21.
