US Military COVID-19 Deaths Double In Two Months

 

Fifty-two service members have died of COVID-19 complications to date. None of them were fully vaccinated. (Lance Cpl. Tyler W. Abbott/Marine Corps)

It took more than a year for 26 service members to die of COVID-19, even as the pandemic raged through the country. It took two months for that death toll to double this summer.

To date, 52 troops have died from COVID-19 complications. None of them have been fully vaccinated, Maj. Charlie Dietz, Pentagon spokesman, told Military Times on Wednesday.

That total is up six from the previous week. After more than a year in which, generally, one or two service members died each month, August saw eight deaths and September has seen nine so far.

The latest deaths reported to the Defense Department include:

Gas Turbine System Technician 1st Class Ryan L. Crosby, 39, of Expeditionary Warfare Training Group Atlantic, died Sept. 8.

Army Staff Sgt. Bruce Keffer, 32, of the 701st Military Police Group and Quantico, Virginia, died Sept. 15.

Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Jeffrey Fonteneau, 36, of Recruiting Station Raleigh, North Carolina, died Sept. 19.

An Air Force lieutenant colonel, 51, with the 412th Operations Group at Edwards Air Force Base, California, died Sept. 19.

Army Reserve Maj. Matthew D. Moyes, 54, of the 7403rd Troop Medical Clinic in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, died Sept. 20.

An Air National Guard senior master sergeant, 52, with the 190th Civil Engineering Squadron in Kansas died Sept. 21.

The airmen’s families had not given permission to print their names as of Friday afternoon.

Their deaths bring the military’s COVID-19 mortality rate to just over 0.02, much lower

than the roughly 2-percent rate nationwide, but 50 times higher than it was during previous surges last year. 

Roughly 10 percent of troops have been diagnosed with COVID-19, vs. 13 percent of U.S. residents.