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Air Force trainees gather, staff raises concerns about apparent lack of social distancing

Trainees at JBSA-Lackland are not practicing social distancing measures, according to pictures sent to KENS 5. A staff member is concerned for high-risk employees.

SAN ANTONIO — The trainees at Joint Base San Antonio Lackland are not practicing social distancing measures, according to pictures sent to KENS 5. And a staff member said they are worried for the health of some employees who are considered to be at high risk of contracting the novel coronavirus. 

KENS 5 received pictures from a staff member who wanted to remain anonymous. The individual said that their chain of command is allowing as many as 200 trainees to gather in close spaces as they get their new uniforms. The person said several employees are over 60 years old and have underlying health conditions. They have to work closely with the trainees to mark their uniforms or make alterations.

Credit: KENS 5

We reached out to the 37th Training Wing for a comment and a spokesperson sent us a statement:

“Thank you for bringing this to our attention.  Protecting our people is the DoD’s top priority.  Although we don’t know when this photo was taken, prudent measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 are in place to safeguard our trainees, staff, families, and the community.  This is a rapidly evolving situation, but Basic Military Training is doing all that it can to implement nationally established safety measures into our training pipeline as quickly as possible.”

The Air Force has implemented safety measures for basic training trainees. They have laid out details on how they plan to slow the spread of COVID-19 here. There is also, a frequently asked question-and-answer list here.  

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