'BEXAR COUNTY COMMISSIONER, PRECINCT 4 February 19, 2020 Honorable Mark Esper United States Secretary of Defense 1000 Defense Pentagon ‘Washington, DC 20301-1000 Dear Secretary Esper Ina conference call Tuesday, February 18, 2020 officials from the Cemer for Disease ‘Control and the Department of Health and Human Services identified a Department of | Defense directive t not keep potential or infected Coronavirus COVID-19 patients completely contained within JBSA Lackland. This directive I believe to be in confict with best practices of the Center for Disease Control and my training as a county and state official charged with emergency management. ‘The military is well equipped to set up temporary quarantine medical facilities or ‘accommodate those who may be infected with the COVID-19 on Lackland but your directive is creating additional vectors for the virus to spread into the eivilian population inthe United States, Having JBSA Lackland house these victims also takes away the command and control structure that the civilian leadership atthe state and local level are accustomed to. Ifthe civilian leadership isnot able to reduce vectors for the spread of the disease through isolated facilities tha are away from the civilian population, then I recommend that JBSA. Lackland be decommissioned as a U.S, quarantine facility because the potential forthe spread ofthe disease into the community i too great. Ifyou decide to continue 0 utilize JBSA Lackland as a quarantine location, then you should carry forward the protection of the civilian population by admitting COVID-19 quarantine victims ont the military ‘medical facilites at JBSA Lackland ina special triage center that could be set up for patients and prospective Virus eariers. Finally, 1 have coordinated the donation of robots that can disinfeet the COVID-19 virus inthe dorm rooms, transportation vehicles, and other potential virus spreading vectors at Lackland. However, Iam concerned that these systems are not being used to disinfect ‘the dorms, which will one day soon have airmen from around the world, traveling around the world. 1 would ask thatthe Department of Defense take the donated robots but also move with emergency procurement powers to procure these Xenex robots immediately to {ensure thatthe virus does not sit latent inthe facilities at Lackland, in transportation Vehicles, or other ateas that could spread the virus to the people of the United States. ee 101 W. NUEVA, SUITE 1028 + SAN ANTONI, TX 78205 «(P)210-935.2614 + (F) 210-395-2026Ifyou decide not to change the DOD directive, then we should immediately consider ‘Ving control of the quarantine back to the eivilian leadership in Texas so that we can protect our population with a best practices isolation quarantine regime. Sincerely, Tommy Calvert, J. Bexar County Commissioner, Precinet 4 CC: Honorable Donald J. Trump, President, United States of America Honorable Join Cornyn, Senator, United Sates of America Honorable Ted Cruz, Senator, United States of America Honorable Bexar County U.S. Congressional Delegation Honorable Alex Azar, Sceretary, Department of Health and Human Services Brig. General Laura Lenderman, Commander, JBSA De. Robert R, Rediield, Director of the Centers for Disease Contol and Prevention Honorable Greg Abbott, Governor, State of Texas Honorable Members ofthe Bexar County Commissioners Court Honorable Members of the San Antonio City Council