Defense Information School closes after family member tests positive for COVID-19

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The Defense Department’s school that trains military journalists and public affairs officers is temporarily closing after a family member of one of the personnel assigned there tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the school’s spokesman said.

“The Defense Information School has suspended training and closed the school temporarily in order to conduct COVID-19 exposure risk assessment after a family member tested positive for COVID-19,” Pete Robertson told Task & Purpose on Monday.

Robertson did not specify whether the person who tested positive for the coronavirus is related to an instructor or a student.

“The school is working with the Fort Meade Public Health team to assess the situation, quarantine affected personnel and conduct deep cleaning in the affected areas of the building,” he said in a statement. “DINFOS is doing everything it can to protect the health and safety of its workforce while keeping mission essential training going. Training will resume only after all mitigation measures have been implemented.”

No further information was available on Monday.

DINFOS is a rite of passage for service members and civilians whose job is to tell the U.S. military’s story. Graduates go on to produce stories, videos, and other content for the Defense Department or interact with civilian media as public affairs officers. School alumni are unofficially nicknamed “DINFOS Trained Killers.”

Jeff Schogol Avatar

Jeff Schogol

Senior Pentagon Reporter

Jeff Schogol is a senior staff writer for Task & Purpose. He reports on both the Defense Department as a whole as well as individual services, covering a variety of topics that include personnel, policy, military justice, deployments, and technology.