124 cruise ship passengers leave Dobbins; 160 remain

Fort Stewart personnel in 14-day observation and monitoring period.

More than 120 Grand Princess cruise ship passengers quarantined at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta amid the coronavirus pandemic were scheduled to return home to Delaware, Indiana and Illinois on Tuesday, Gov. Brian Kemp said.

In all, 124 were set to depart Dobbins, leaving about 160 at the military installation. That is down from the nearly 500 who were brought there after their cruise ship was struck by the disease. All of the 31 Georgians who were brought to Dobbins returned home Sunday, Kemp said.

“They are back home and self-quarantined and being monitored by their local health department,” Kemp said.

Meanwhile, a spokesman at Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield near Georgia’s coast said Tuesday about 25 U.S. servicemembers and Department of the Army civilians are “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 offpost locations,” said Lt. Col. Patrick Husted, a spokesman for the 3rd Infantry Division based at Fort Stewart.

Husted said he could not provide more information due to federal privacy laws.

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

Like Fort Gordon and Fort Stewart, Fort Benning said it has no confirmed cases of COVID19.

A spokesman for Benning, near Columbus, said officials there are checking the temperatures of recruits and asking them about foreign travel and potential exposure to infected people.

Those arriving at Benning from “high-risk areas” could be placed under a 14-day observation program to restrict their movement and monitor their health, said Ben Garrett, a spokesman for Benning.

“We are continually taking precautionary measures to protect the health of the force and maintain operational readiness,” Garrett said, adding: “We are actively conducting screening procedures.”