In Stuttgart, Army Says DOD to Give Virus Data
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MILITARY FACES WAR/MILITARY North Korea lashes out Celebrities share messages ISIS detainees found against Pompeo, warns of love, support, unity during after riots at Syrian US after latest launch iHeart Living Room Concert prison, officials say Page 3 Page 18 Page 4 Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony rescheduled for July 23, 2021 » Page 20 stripes.com Volume 78, No. 247 ©SS 2020 TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2020 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK AIR FORCE ACADEMY 2 cadets found dead on campus within 48 hours BY HEATHER BENIT Stars and Stripes Two cadets who were due to graduate from the Air Force Academy in May were found dead in their rooms on campus last week. The first death occurred Thursday, the academy said in a statement released after an on- line briefing for staff and cadets, most of whom left campus just over two weeks ago as the insti- tution stepped up its fight against the coronavirus. Two days later, officials told the community in another on- line briefing that a second cadet had been found dead in his room at the Colorado Springs, Colo.- based academy, several cadets and an alumnus told Stars and Stripes, asking not to be named because they were not authorized to comment. The first death was not caused by the coronavirus or foul play, the academy said in a statement, providing no further details about it. No official statement has been released about the second death. Neither cadet has been identi- RELATED STORIES fied, but several other cadets and an alumnus said both of the de- In Stuttgart, Army says US soldiers with premature twins ceased were male “firsties” from squadrons 7 and 8. They would medically evacuated from S. Korea have graduated and been com- Page 4 missioned as second lieutenants in May. DOD to give virus data Special pay OK’d for some troops Because both deaths “hap- pened behind closed doors,” isolated in temporary lodging academy officials “want cadets BY JOHN VANDIVER tions within the military and concerns that Page 5 with the doors open more,” said Stars and Stripes the combat readiness of the force could be an alumnus with knowledge of put at risk by the fast-moving virus. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort the situation. STUTTGART, Germany — The Pentagon Such concerns came into focus last week arrives in NY to assist in virus fight The only cadets remaining on on Sunday ordered the home of U.S. Europe- when the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft campus are graduating seniors an Command to stop reporting the number carrier was forced to pull into port in Guam Page 6 and a handful of others, includ- of coronavirus infections within its military because of a coronavirus outbreak among its ing international students, who community in a move that could reverberate sailors. Get the latest on the virus outbreak couldn’t head home when most across all U.S. forces. In Stuttgart, home to EUCOM and U.S. of the nearly 4,000 cadets at the The Army in Stuttgart said it can no lon- Africa Command headquarters, 80 infec- stripes.com/coronavirus academy were dismissed in mid- ger release the number of coronavirus cases tions were reported as of Sunday morning, March. The unprecedented move based on a Defense Department directive by far the most of any American military A woman wearing a face mask walks by was taken to allow seniors to be that cited operational security concerns. base overseas. In all, there are at least 125 graffiti painted on the shutter of a closed housed in individual rooms, where “DOD will release numbers through their coronavirus infections within the military in restaurant in Athens on Monday during a they also take online classes, so official platforms,” the Army in Stuttgart Germany alone, based on a Stars and Stripes lockdown order by the Greek government they can follow social-distancing said in a statement. tally of infections. to control the spread of the coronavirus . guidelines, which are considered The decision comes amid a spike in infec- SEE VIRUS ON PAGE 5 THANASSIS STAVRAKIS/AP SEE CADETS ON PAGE 4 PAGE 2 F3HIJKLM •STARS AND STRIPES• Tuesday, March 31, 2020 BUSINESS/WEATHER EXCHANGE RATES Military rates Switzerland (Franc)............................0.9534 Companies having to resort to virtual layoffs Euro costs (March 31) ......................... $1.08 Thailand (Baht) .....................................32.53 Dollar buys (March 31) ....................€0.8803 Turkey (Lira) .........................................6.4402 British pound (March 31) ....................$1.21 (Military exchange rates are those Associated Press fied employees on a live Zoom pany said. Japanese yen (March 31) ..................106.00 available to customers at military banking South Korean won (March 31) ......1,193.00 facilities in the country of issuance meeting because everyone is Commercial rates But “in retrospect,” Vander- for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the How do you tell employees you Bahrain (Dinar) ....................................0.3768 working from home during the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. For are laying them off when a pan- Zanden added, the company British pound .....................................$1.2479 nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pandemic. Canada (Dollar) ...................................1.3947 demic prevents you from meeting should have first made one-on- purchasing British pounds in Germany), China (Yuan) ........................................7.0964 “Video was turned off which check with your local military banking with them in person? one calls to the hundreds of af- Denmark (Krone) ................................ 6.7117 facility. Commercial rates are interbank we thought was more humane,” Egypt (Pound) ....................................15.7516 Some companies have taken to fected workers. rates provided for reference when buying he tweeted Friday after the firm’s Euro .........................................$1.1117/0.8995 video conference platform Zoom Bird, a dockless electric scoot- Hong Kong (Dollar) .............................7.7525 currency. All figures are foreign currencies to bear bad news remotely. layoff-by-teleconference ap- Hungary (Forint) .................................320.00 to one dollar, except for the British pound, er sharing company, was founded Israel (Shekel) .....................................3.5644 which is represented in dollars-to-pound, Electric scooter rental startup proach drew considerable back- and the euro, which is dollars-to-euro.) in September 2017, and is based Japan (Yen) ............................................107.76 Bird recently announced on a lash on social media. Kuwait (Dinar) .....................................0.3133 INTEREST RATES Instead of seeing fellow em- in Santa Monica, Calif. Bird op- Norway (Krone) .................................10.4060 web-based call that it was cutting Philippines (Peso)................................. 51.15 Prime rate ................................................3.25 30% of its staff. ployees’ reaction to the bad news, erates in over 100 cities in Eu- Poland (Zloty) ..........................................4.08 Discount rate ..........................................0.25 rope, the Middle East, and North Saudi Arabia (Riyal) ...........................3.7562 Federal funds market rate ................... 0.10 Bird CEO Travis VanderZan- there was a slide presentation Singapore (Dollar) ..............................1.4266 3-month bill .............................................0.00 den said that the company noti- explaining the decision, the com- America. South Korea (Won) ..........................1,215.41 30-year bond ...........................................1.33 WEATHER OUTLOOK TUESDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST TUESDAY IN EUROPE WEDNESDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 50/40 Kabul 42/37 Seoul 58/44 Baghdad 78/55 Kandahar 67/55 Osan Tokyo Mildenhall/ Drawsko 56/44 50/46 Lakenheath Pomorskie Busan 49/35 36/24 59/49 Iwakuni 57/53 Kuwait Bahrain Zagan Sasebo City 73/69 Brussels 37/28 Guam 77/62 47/35 Ramstein 55/51 82/78 Lajes, 43/33 Riyadh Doha Azores Stuttgart Pápa 88/56 82/62 60/56 42/25 43/26 Aviano/ Vicenza 46/34 Naples 57/50 Okinawa Morón 72/68 61/54 Sigonella Rota 61/46 The weather is provided by the Djibouti Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 87/76 62/50 60/56 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. T O D A Y IN STRIPES American Roundup ..... 14 Classified .................. 13 Comics ...................... 15 Crossword ................. 15 Faces ........................ 18 Opinion .................16-17 Sports .................. 20-24 Tuesday, March 31, 2020 •STARS AND STRIPES• F3HIJKLM PAGE 3 MILITARY North Korea has ‘dropped interest’ in US nuke talks BY KIM GAMEL “This makes us misjudge who has signaled would be a red line. AND YOO KYONG CHANG is the real chief executive in the KCNA reported earlier Mon- Stars and Stripes U.S.,” according to the statement day that the North had success- attributed to a new foreign min- fully test-fired “super-large” SEOUL, South Korea — North istry official in charge of negotia- multiple rocket launchers on Sun- Korea warned on Monday it has tions with Washington. day in a step toward operational lost interest in nuclear talks with “The reckless remarks made deployment. the United States, a day after the by Pompeo seriously impaired South Korea’s military said communist state test-fired what the signboard of dialogue put up Sunday that two short-range bal- it called “super-large” multiple by the U.S. president as a decoy listic missiles had been fired by rocket launchers. to buy time