A 34-year-old Army Reserve member, husband and father of one has been identified as the third service member to die from the novel coronavirus, according to service officials and the funeral home handling his arrangements.
Sgt. Simon Zamudio, of Carpentersville, Illinois, died May 22. He was assigned to the 371st Theater Movement Control Element at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. Pentagon officials on Tuesday misidentified his location as Wisconsin.
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Zamudio leaves behind a wife and daughter. His mother died on Memorial Day, three days after her son.
He attended Dundee-Crown High School in Carpentersville and enlisted in the Army in 2015. According to the service, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant on April 1 and held the Army Service Ribbon and National Defense Service Medal.
Zamudio's death is the first of a U.S. service member from the virus since April 13, when Aviation Ordnanceman Chief Petty Officer Charles Robert Thacker Jr., 41, died after being hospitalized. Thacker was assigned to the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, which experienced an outbreak of more than 1,000 cases.
Army National Guard member Capt. Douglas Linn Hickok, 57, a physician assistant and member of the New Jersey Guard, died March 28, the first U.S. service member killed by the virus.
Cases of the coronavirus continue to rise among service members, according to the Defense Department. As of Wednesday, the DoD has had 9,276 total diagnosed cases of COVID-19 -- an increase of more than 100 cases from the previous day, half of whom were service members. Four more active-duty patients have been hospitalized since Tuesday, bringing the total to 169 service members admitted for treatment for COVID-19, according to the DoD.
The Navy continues to have the highest number of cases among the services, at 2,384. The Army has had 1,339 cases; the Air Force, 483; the Marine Corps, 547; and the National Guard Bureau, 1,284.
More than 1,600 military family members have contracted the coronavirus, and 49 have been hospitalized.
-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.
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