BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Seventeen National Guard soldiers will not travel to Fort Polk for a training rotation after testing positive for COVID-19 during processing at Fort Chafee military base in Arkansas. As of Saturday, the 17 soldiers were in isolation while another 60 soldiers were placed in quarantine due to contact tracing, according to a spokesperson with the Arkansas National Guard.
From now through early August, the 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the Arkansas National Guard is conducting a training rotation in Vernon Parish at Fort Polk military base. One Battalion, 1-138 Infantry, is from the Missouri National Guard, according to the spokesperson.
Soldiers participating from Arkansas and Missouri are processed through Fort Chaffee Joint Maneuver Training Center. As of Saturday morning, approximately 2620 soldiers from Arkansas and Missouri had been processed and tested for COVID-19, according to the spokesperson.
The isolated and quarantined soldiers remain in duty status where medical care and treatment are available. Each soldier must be cleared by a health professional prior to being released for duty or released from a duty status.
