5th Army Reserve Member Dies From COVID-19

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An Army Reserve soldier has become the eighth U.S. service member to die from COVID-19, according to information released by the Pentagon Monday.

Few details were provided on the death, which was included among data released Monday by the Defense Department. A request for more information from Military.com was forwarded to the Army Reserve public affairs office, which did not immediately respond.

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The soldier is the fifth Army Reserve member to die from COVID-19.

As of Monday, 96 DoD-affiliated persons had died from the coronavirus: In addition to the eight service members, seven dependents, 59 civilian employees and 22 contractors had died.

The U.S. military's first COVID-19 death was recorded on March 28, when Army National Guard Capt. Douglas Hickok, a physician assistant, passed away as his unit prepared for pandemic response.

Other service members who have died include: Navy Chief Aviation Ordnanceman Charles Thacker, 41, who died April 13; Army Reserve Sgt. Simon Zamudio, 34, who died May 22; Army Reserve Spc. Curtis Lamar Fort, 61, who died July 30; an unidentified member of the California National Guard, who passed away Aug. 20; Army Reserve Master Sgt. Brian Tolliver, 46, who died Aug. 17; and Army Reserve Sgt. 1st Class Clifford Gooding, 58, who died Aug. 28.

As of Monday, 45,246 military personnel had tested positive for the disease, including 16,742 Army soldiers, 5,675 Marines, 10,174 Navy sailors and 7,066 Air Force airmen. More than 5,240 National Guard members and 347 personnel assigned to DoD agencies also have been diagnosed since the start of the outbreak.

As of Sept. 4, 626 Coast Guardsmen had tested positive for COVID-19. The service has not had any coronavirus-related deaths, according to Lt. Cmdr. Brittany Panetta. The Coast Guard does not regularly release its coronavirus cases.

More than 7.1 million people in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began, including more than 1 million since the beginning of September. Nearly 205,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Worldwide, 33 million people have tested positive and nearly 1 million have died.

DoD has tallied 65,657 cases among its personnel and dependents. In addition to the military cases, 6,034 dependents, 10,109 civilian employees and 4,268 defense contractors have tested positive for COVID-19.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

This story will be updated.

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