By CHAD GARLAND | STARS AND STRIPES Published: January 15, 2021
Stars and Stripes is making stories on the coronavirus pandemic available free of charge. See other free reports here. Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter here. Please support our journalism with a subscription. A U.S. airman based in Italy has died because of the coronavirus, family and friends say, which would mark the first active-duty death in the Air Force and the fourth such death among active-duty service members. Aviano Air Base is investigating what caused the death Tuesday of Tech. Sgt. Michael W. Morris, 36, an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter craftsman assigned to the 31st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa said in a statement.
By KAT BOUZA | STARS AND STRIPES Published: January 6, 2021 As the world was upended in 2020 by the spread of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, the majority of individuals found themselves tasked with learning to live with a “new normal,” adapting daily routines to the restrictions imposed by social distancing. Here at Stars and Stripes, the coronavirus pandemic also dramatically altered the way we deliver news to our audience. Early in the pandemic, Stripes temporarily suspended the production of physical newspapers in some overseas locations and removed the paywall on COVID-19-related stories on stripes.com. As the pandemic progressed, some staff members even began to work from home.
SAN DIEGO
A massive fire dooms a warship in San Diego’s waterfront. Training accidents kill 11 in San Clemente Island. Some long deployments come to an end as others are just beginning.
These are a few of the stories affecting the San Diego military community in 2020.
Underpinning it all is the coronavirus pandemic, which sickened many and strained local military forces as they tried to maintain regular operations.
The pandemic tested military leaders and changed day-to-day operations. Sailors endured weeks-long quarantines before going to sea. and Marine recruits isolated in hotels before starting boot camp.
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Before the virus reached US shores, the year began with tensions escalating into violence between the United States and Iran, as both countries sought to exert influence in Iraq.