Five United States Marine Corps Air Station in Okinawa, Japan, were found with soldiers having tested positive with the viral coronavirus. Nearly 100 marine forces tested positive. Due to this, local authorities from Japan found the American presence not good for their community.  

Nearly 100 U.S. Marines tested positive with COVID-19

As first reported via Associated Press over the weekend, the governor of Japan's Okinawa island, Gov. Denny Tamaki, confirmed that dozens of American forces staying on the island had confirmed the virus. 

Gov. Tamaki demanded the numbers to Lt. Gen. H. Stacy Clardy, commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force. He said that the American presence did not help contain the virus, resulting in even worse confirmed populations. 

"Okinawans are shocked by what we were told (by the U.S. military)," Tamaki told a news conference Saturday. "It is extremely regrettable that the infections are rapidly spreading among U.S. personnel when we Okinawans are doing our utmost to contain the infections."

Japan Times confirmed that 71 coronavirus cases had been confirmed at Futenma and 22 at another U.S. Marine base, Camp Hansen, three cases at Kadena Air Base, and one case each at Camp McTureous and Camp Kinser. 

Both Futenma and Camp Hansen were under strict lockdown since the day one of the spread. 

However, Okinawa governor is not impressed with how the U.S. forces are doing their job. 

"We now have strong doubts that the U.S. military has taken adequate disease prevention measures," he added.

U.S. forces are bringing their families to Japan

One thing that the Japanese government was looking to explain the sudden COVID-19 spread in military bases was the reports that the soldiers brought their families in Japan during their stay.

"We are also looking into reports of gatherings and directing individuals to quarantine... Leadership in Okinawa is working non-stop to curtail the spread," said U.S. spokesman Maj. Ken Kunze, saying that investigation is ongoing. However, the U.S. forces explained that these theories were not real and had no basis at all. According to their Facebook pages, the Marine Corps is trying their best to curb the spread of COVID-19. They also clarified that there are no gatherings or other local contact from the officials to the local authorities, that happened since the day they first stayed. 

"We are trying to limit as much contact (with local people) as we can, as we look to contact tracing of infected personnel," a U.S. military spokesman said.Okinawa is home to more than 50,000 US soldiers that are based in Japan. As of now, the U.S. government has not yet said anything about the issues or if whether what will happen to the soldiers that got affected by the virus. 
 
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