Two patients who sought medical care at a Fort Benning hospital have tested positive for COVID-19, the highly contagious disease caused by the coronavirus, military officials confirmed this weekend.

News of the positive test results comes as military bases across Georgia are scrambling to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus among U.S. servicemembers, civilians and their families. Located near Columbus, Fort Benning is not identifying either of the two patients, citing federal health privacy rules.
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As of midday Sunday, there were 600 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Georgia, including two in Muscogee County, where Fort Benning is located, according to the Georgia Department of Health. Twenty-three people in Georgia have died from the illness.

On Wednesday, Robins Air Force Base confirmed nine people there who recently returned from traveling abroad were directed to “stay at home or other appropriate domicile coordinated with their leadership for 14 days, practice social distancing and conduct self-monitoring.”

The day before, a spokesman at Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield near Georgia’s coast said about 25 U.S. servicemembers and Department of the Army civilians were “under a precautionary 14-day observation and monitoring period, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.”

“The majority of those personnel came to Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield from overseas locations and are at both on- and off-post locations,” said Lt. Col. Patrick Husted, a spokesman for the 3rd Infantry Division, which is based at Fort Stewart.

Four soldiers from Fort Gordon, in the Augusta area, completed a two-week quarantine this month after returning home from South Korea, said Buz Yarnell, a spokesman for the military installation.