A third U.S. service member has died from complications related to the coronavirus pandemic as the total number of military COVID-19 cases rapidly approaches 6,000, Pentagon officials announced Tuesday.
The Department of Defense did not provide any details about the service member who died. It was included in a tally of coronavirus data the Pentagon releases on a daily basis.
The outbreak has hit military members of the Department of Defense the hardest with more than 6,100 confirmed coronavirus cases. On Tuesday, the Navy announced it had 2,376 cases, compared to 1,315 in the Army – the next highest number of COVID-19 patients, officials said.
Capt. Douglas Hickok, a Physician’s Assistant and member of the New Jersey Army National Guard, died in March. He was the first service member to succumb following the coronavirus outbreak.
Navy Chief Petty Officer Charles Thacker, who is assigned to the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, is the first active duty military personnel to die from COVID-19, officials said.
