Pentagon staffers told to come to work with face coverings: report

Pentagon staffers have been instructed to come to work with face coverings starting Monday, in an email some received over the weekend, CNN reported. 

An official who received one of the messages told CNN on Sunday that office administrators had told their employees to come to work with at least one face covering during the pandemic. 

President Trump announced Friday that his administration was recommending Americans wear non-medical face coverings when they are out in public. This was a reversal of previous instruction from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that masks would not prevent the disease from spreading. 

Defense Secretary Mark Esper told ABC’s “This Week” Sunday that the department will release a directive on face coverings later in the day.

“We are going to move toward face coverings,” he said.

He noted that not all servicemembers will be able to follow social distancing rules, especially in a submarine or tank. 

“But we ought to provide them all the guidance they need to adjust it in whatever is unique to their situation, their circumstance or their mission set,” the secretary said.

The first U.S. service member has died from coronavirus, the Pentagon announced last week.

As of Saturday, more than 100 sailors on the USS Theodore Roosevelt have tested positive for COVID-19, CBS News reported. The Navy secretary relieved the captain of the ship of duty after his letter to Navy officials asking for an evacuation leaked to the press.