Eighth US service member dies from COVID-19

An eighth U.S. service member has been killed by the coronavirus, according to Pentagon data released Monday.

The death was included in Monday’s update of the chart the Pentagon keeps on its website of numbers of COVID-19 cases connected to the department.

More information on the death was not immediately available, and a Pentagon spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The death revealed Monday is the first military COVID-19 death since late August, when Army reservist Sgt. 1st Class Clifford R. Gooding, 58, died of the disease.

Gooding was the fourth member of the Army Reserve to die from COVID-19.

His death followed the Aug. 20 death of a 36-year-old staff sergeant in the California National Guard.

The military’s first COVID-19 death in March also came from the National Guard: a 57-year-old New Jersey Guardsman.

So far, the Pentagon has only reported one coronavirus death from someone on active duty. Navy Chief Petty Officer Charles Robert Thacker Jr., a 41-year-old aviation ordnanceman, died in April after being one of more than 1,000 sailors from the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier who contracted the virus.

In total, the Pentagon has reported 65,657 cases of COVID-19 connected to the department, according to Monday’s figures.

That includes 45,246 cases among service members, 30,450 of whom have recovered and 613 of whom have been hospitalized over the course of the pandemic.

There have also been 10,109 cases among civilians, 6,034 cases among dependents and 4,268 cases among contractors. There have been 59 civilian deaths, seven dependent deaths and 22 contractor deaths, according to Monday’s chart.