Coast Guard Foundation supports COVID-19 quarantine spaces

The Coast Guard Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to the education and well-being of all Coast Guard members and their families, has supported quarantine spaces at Coast Guard units across the country – completing 118 spaces in all – to assist the service with sustaining maximum personnel flexibility and mission readiness.

Like the rest of the nation, Coast Guard members are confronting the novel coronavirus in their communities. The health and safety of the Coast Guard workforce remain top priorities of the service. At the same time, the Coast Guard must continue its life-saving and security missions as well as work closely with the maritime industry to ensure the nation’s ports and waterways enable the critical movement of fuel, food, medical supplies, and consumer goods.

If Coast Guard members require quarantine or isolation during this unprecedented public health crisis, the Service is employing its trademark ingenuity by installing quarantine spaces on bases and small units to keep those members comfortably separated to avoid a wider outbreak. The most-junior Coast Guard men and women face a unique challenge as many of those members live on base in barracks and other group settings and simply do not have a home to retreat to.

“The Coast Guard is building an increasing inventory of campers, trailers, and rental units at its small bases across the nation in which to quarantine or isolate Coast Guard members who would otherwise live in barracks,” said Susan Ludwig, president of the Coast Guard Foundation. “The Foundation is stepping up to equip these spaces with modest amenities to maintain the morale and well-being of these Coast Guard members. We recently outfitted our 100th quarantine unit, and we continue to provide other vital support to Coast Guard members as America’s maritime first responders.”