ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. -- While no significant changes are planned in the interim, updates to Arnold Engineering Development Complex COVID-19 policies to correspond with high-level coronavirus-related announcements could soon be implemented across AEDC.
This possibility and the potential impacts were addressed by AEDC Commander Col. Jeffrey Geraghty during an Aug. 10 virtual town hall broadcast via Facebook Live.
Geraghty said uncertainty generated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has been further heightened by the emergence of the delta variant, prompted him to host his first virtual town hall in more than a year. He took the opportunity to field several questions, discuss possible policy changes and get out in front of circulating rumors.
First, Geraghty discussed postures that, at least for now, will not realize major alterations. Among these is the base entry posture at Arnold Air Force Base, headquarters of AEDC.
Geraghty said the criteria requiring compliance with AEDC COVID-19 policy remains in place for base entry, adding compliance screening conducted by base security at installation entry points continues.
Although vaccinated personnel were, for a time, permitted to remain indoors without a mask, Geraghty said that authority is no longer in place. He said the requirement to mask indoors regardless of vaccination status applies not only to AEDC facilities but all Department of Defense installations located in the U.S. and abroad due to guidance issued in July by the office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense.
The AEDC telework posture also remains the same as it was at the outset of the pandemic, Geraghty said, adding that after a period of return to in-person meetings and increased onsite personnel, the workforce is again trending toward more telework opportunities.
“I’m not making any wing-level decrees,” he said. “I trust supervisors to make the right decisions for their specific work center. Whether they need to tell their office, ‘Hey, we’re teleworking full-time,’ I’m not going to do that for the entire government workforce, for the entire base, at Arnold Air Force Base.”
Geraghty also touched on recent changes to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance. The CDC currently recommends that individuals, even if fully vaccinated, receive COVID-19 testing within three to five days if they’ve been in close contact with someone who has tested positive.
“We’re not rewriting the policy to adopt that right now,” Geraghty said. “Our policies, we will be revising them soon, but we’re deliberately not making a bunch of little changes right now that make it confusing to keep up with because we do anticipate a fairly large change coming.”
This change pertains to personnel attestation of vaccination status.
In late July, the Pentagon announced that Department of Defense personnel will be asked to attest to their vaccination status. Those unable or unwilling to attest to being fully vaccinated will be required to wear a mask in all locations, adhere to social distancing guidelines and comply with coronavirus testing at least once per week. At the same time, President Joe Biden announced the same requirement for federal employees.
“That is going to require a lot of forethought and planning, and that’s what the government is doing right now – making sure they’ve thought through all of the implications of that forthcoming change, including things like who’s going to pay for the tests that the non-vaccinated personnel have to get once or twice a week in order to gain base installation access,” Geraghty said. “For the government workforce, what will be your duty status while you’re off getting a COVID test if you’re not vaccinated? All these good questions that require a solid and coherent answer before we implement the policy, our headquarters at Air Force Materiel Command and Headquarters Air Force, they’re asking those questions to the Department of Defense medical professionals and all of the staff at the Department of Defense to make sure that we in the government have a solid answer to all those questions that are going to pop up before we start implementing that policy.”
Geraghty said the protocols applying to those unable or unwilling to attest to vaccination status, such as regular testing, could likely become a requirement for installation access.
“I don’t think they’re just going to apply to the government workforce,” he said. “I anticipate they’re going to be a requirement for base entry.”
It could be another month or so before AEDC policy updates to reflect these requirements are implemented as the DOD works to deliver answers to the questions the attestation policies have presented, Geraghty said.
Another impending DOD-level requirement impacting some at AEDC is that by mid-September, the Secretary of Defense will request the President to allow him to mandate that all military members receive the COVID-19 vaccination under emergency use authorization. If one of the vaccines gains full approval by the Food and Drug Administration before that time, the Secretary of Defense will not need presidential approval and will simply add it to the list of mandatory vaccines for military members. This timeline was announced by the Pentagon on Aug. 9.
Geraghty also looked to control rumors that Arnold AFB leadership would soon institute the temporary closures of offices and facilities, just as they had in March 2020 in response to the pandemic.
“As it currently stands, I don’t have any intent to do that right now,” Geraghty said. “My team hasn’t brought to my attention any information as of right now that would lean us in that direction. Although we’re still adhering to the same priorities we’ve had throughout this whole pandemic – protect the health of the workforce, execute as much of the mission as possible and take care of each other – we have a lot more tools in the inventory to protect the health of the workforce now than just separating people from each other and keeping them off the base. We have PPE [personal protective equipment] available such as masks, hand sanitizers, all of that stuff.
“We are keeping our eyes on the local health care capacity. Those are things that go into the decision as to our Health Protection Condition assessment and what our health protection posture will be, but the data we’re looking at right now does not indicate that we’re going to shut the base down any time soon. We’re keeping our eyes on all the appropriate data.
“The delta variant, as it goes through the base and the base population, you’re probably aware the CDC rates our local communities, our four closest counties here, as an area of high transmission of the virus, but we have so many tools now at our disposal to protect the health of the workforce, including the vaccine. I do encourage everybody to make an informed decision about the vaccine. Talk to your health care professionals. We have some resources online that will help you get some factual information about the vaccine. It is known to protect very effectively against what we’ve been trying to mitigate the risks of all along, which is the long-term hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19, and it’s exceptionally effective at preventing those particular outcomes.”
Responding to one of the questions he received during the broadcast, Geraghty said he is unsure whether there will be a religious exemption for military members for either the vaccination or testing. He was also asked why all of the contractors at Arnold AFB are not seeking funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act and whether a contractor can be terminated for refusing testing or vaccination. Geraghty said he has only the authority to set the conditions for base entry, with these parameters likely coming from higher headquarters, and referred those sharing these concerns to their company’s supervisory chain.
During the town hall, Geraghty expressed his gratitude for all members of the workforce across AEDC for continuing to accomplish the mission despite difficult circumstances.
“I really appreciate all that you’ve done over an extremely tough year-and-a-half,” he said. “It’s really quite impressive. I can tell you that you still have the attention of the highest levels of the Department of Defense and how important our mission is. Our National Defense Strategy is still the same as it’s been as long as I’ve been in command here, and we are an extraordinarily important part of that National Defense Strategy.”
For more information, including the Arnold AFB entry screening process, visit arnold.af.mil/coronavirus.