Marine general has COVID after Pentagon meeting

In this image provided by the U.S. Marine Corps, then-Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Gary L. Thomas, deputy on Aug. 8, 2016. Thomas, now the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, has tested positive for the coronavirus, days after he and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were in a Pentagon meeting with a Coast Guard leader who was infected with the virus. (Lance Cpl. Paul A. Ochoa/Marine Corps via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) – The assistant commandant of the Marine Corps has tested positive for the coronavirus, days after he and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were in a Pentagon meeting with a Coast Guard leader who was infected with the virus.

The Marine Corps says Gen. Gary L. Thomas tested positive for COVID-19. He attended a meeting of the Joint Chiefs on Friday.

U.S. officials say none of the other top military leaders in the meeting, including Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have so far tested positive.

Still, his positive test raises worrying questions about the health of the others at the meeting, including the chiefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force and National Guard.

Thomas and the others have been in self-quarantine since Tuesday when they found out that Adm. Charles W. Ray, the vice commandant of the Coast Guard who was at the Friday meeting, had tested positive.