[Newsmaker] US military uses Seoul lab to test troops outside Korea

A Seoul-based lab tested 72 American troops positive for COVID-19, but the US military in Korea said they belonged to soldiers stationed elsewhere, and not here, a local report said Sunday.

A US hospital at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, where the US military is headquartered, sent clinical specimens to the lab, which shared the results with the city in Gyeonggi Province, as it was bound by law to do so.

The city pressed the US military for more details, but it came to confirm only the fact that those diagnosed with COVID-19 were US troops on duty elsewhere. The specimens sent to the lab for testing were all numbered without names, so the examinees could not be identified, the report said.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention immediately ordered every lab in the country not to run COVID-19 tests on unidentifiable samples. The KCDC is the national public health agency in charge of South Korea’s antivirus efforts.

Pyeongtaek is pushing to test every US citizen who work at the US military headquarters and Osan Air Base but live off the bases. Pyeongtaek, which houses the air base as well, said it hopes to work with the US military to share information about infections, and the US military responded positively to the idea.

Over the weekend, the US military reported more infections, bringing its tally to 19, including soldiers, their family members and contractors. The patients were scattered across Camp Humphreys and Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, as well a base in Daegu.

By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)