Hundreds of National Guard troops deployed to Washington, D.C. for the Biden inaugural this week have tested positive for the COVID-19 China coronavirus or are in quarantine for exposure to the virus, according to a report by Politico published Friday. Troops have been seen resting and sleeping in close quarters since their arrival at the Capitol last week. Thursday night 5,000 troops were reported to have been ordered to rest in a parking garage on Capitol grounds, prompting outrage among Congressmen and Senators. Because of long shifts that keep them from going back to their hotel rooms in the city, troops have been taking breaks in close quarters.
Last week 43 troops tested positive for the virus, reported Military Times:
As thousands of National Guard troops flood into Washington, D.C., coronavirus cases have spiked among them.
Of the roughly 7,000 Guardsmen currently deployed to the District of Columbia, there are now 43 positive cases of COVID-19, Air Force Capt. Tinashe Machona, spokesman for the D.C. National Guard, said in a statement.
The spike in cases comes as the Pentagon has increased the Guard authorization for inauguration security in D.C. to 25,000, a jump of 10,000 over the past 24 hours.
Now the deployment is turning into a superspreader event, Politico reports:
‘Packed us together like sardines’: Guard deployed to Capitol struggles to contain Covid
Hundreds of Guard members who poured into Washington after the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol have tested positive for Covid-19 or are quarantining in nearby hotels.The National Guard has struggled to implement a plan to test troops flowing into and out of Washington, D.C., for Covid-19, with some Guard members being forced to find their own tests and others pressured to leave their quarantine early to report to duty.
Already, hundreds of Guard members who poured into Washington, D.C., after the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol have tested positive for Covid-19 or are quarantining in nearby hotels, three Guard sources said. Guard leadership has declined to release an official number of positive cases, but troops and lawmakers alike worry that the deployment is becoming a superspreader event.
…“I think we’ve got to figure out what went wrong because I think there’s going to be a National Guard presence on campus for the foreseeable future,” Murphy added. (Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT).
“We did not get Covid tests on arrival,” said another Guard member. “Right after the holidays they packed us together like sardines in buses and rooms for this.”
The CDC’s guidelines for quarantining after a negative test — which are recommended following any exposure to the virus because tests are not 100 percent accurate — are increasingly being “completely disregarded,” the Guard member added.
Meanwhile, the National Guard posted this photo after noon on Friday that was taken January 14 captioned, “Soldiers in the Maryland Army National Guard use the soldiers’ backs in front of them to fill out their medical paperwork to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at the U.S. Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 14, 2021. National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from several states have traveled to the District to provide support to federal and district authorities leading up to the 59th Presidential Inauguration. (U.S. National Guard photo by Sgt. Chazz Kibler)”
Photo of the day: Soldiers with @MDNG use Soldiers' backs in front of them to fill out their medical paperwork to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. https://t.co/3oUjiDcQJ3
— National Guard (@USNationalGuard) January 22, 2021
For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an` Chuck him out, the brute! ”
But it’s ” Saviour of ‘is country ” when the guns begin to shoot;
An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please;
An ‘Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool – you bet that Tommy sees!
The post Biden’s Covid Cluster: Hundreds of National Guard Troops in D.C. Test Positive or Are in Quarantine After Deployment for Inaugural appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.