US Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro has announced that he tested positive for Covid-19, becoming the latest in a string of senior US military leaders who have recently fallen ill with the virus.
In a statement, Del Toro revealed that he tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday morning and had last traveled on Friday, with negative test results until this week.
“I am following my physician’s instructions and will quarantine for the next five days at a minimum in accordance with CDC guidelines,” he said, explaining that he would continue to attend “key meetings and discussions” in a virtual capacity while Assistant Secretary Meredith Berger temporarily takes over physical duties.
Del Toro said he was “grateful to be fully vaccinated and to have received the booster shot in October as I know my symptoms could be far worse.”
Earlier in January, US General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tested positive for Covid-19 despite being fully vaccinated and boosted against the virus. Milley experienced mild symptoms. A few weeks before that, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also tested positive for Covid-19, again experiencing mild symptoms.
Hundreds of US military personnel, including 45 US Navy sailors and at least 399 Marines, have been discharged in recent months for refusing to get fully vaccinated against Covid-19, with the Pentagon calling mandatory vaccination a “readiness” issue. The Marine Corps, which Del Toro is also responsible for as navy secretary, has been described as “the most aggressive” branch of the US military for vaccine mandate-related dismissals.
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