Defense

Sixth US service member killed by coronavirus

A sixth U.S. service member has died from the coronavirus, according to the latest Defense Department figures.

The death was included in a tally of Pentagon-connected COVID-19 cases the department keeps on its website that was updated Monday.

The soldier, who was a member of the California National Guard, died Thursday, Lt. Col. Jonathan Shiroma, a spokesman for the California Military Department, said in an email.

He was a 36-year-old staff sergeant assigned to the 40th Combat Aviation Brigade in Fresno, Calif., Shiroma said.

Shiroma did not release the soldier’s name or any other personal details, citing a request from the soldier’s family.

The death revealed Monday comes about a week after the military’s fifth coronavirus death, 46-year-old Army reservist Master Sgt. Brian K. Tolliver. Tolliver had been admitted to the hospital after testing positive for the virus in July and was there until his death.

Another two of the military’s coronavirus deaths have also come from the Army Reserve. Sgt. Simon Zamudio, 34, died in May, and Spc. Curtis Fort, 61, died in July.

A New Jersey National Guardsman, 57-year-old Army Capt. Douglas Linn Hickock, was the military’s first COVID-19 death in March.

The only active-duty coronavirus death that has been announced remains Navy Chief Petty Officer Charles Robert Thacker Jr., a 41-year-old aviation ordnanceman who died in April after being one of more than 1,000 sailors from the USS Theodore Roosevelt who contracted the virus.

In total, there have been 52,455 cases of COVID-19 connected to the Pentagon, according to Monday’s figures.

That includes 36,232 cases among service members, 20,830 of whom have recovered and 558 of whom have been hospitalized over the course of the pandemic.

Updated at 3:34 p.m.