• Stephanie L Mitchell, Thomas A Mitchell, Nathaniel Horwitz-Willis, Timur N Alptunaer, Jeffrey A Gipson, and Stacy A Shackelford.
• SLM and TAM contributed equally to this paper.
• Mil Med. 2022 Mar 9.

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic created challenges for forward-deployed military units to Western Africa. Austere military environments afford multiple avenues to transmit COVID-19 amongst service members.Materials And MethodsA COVID-19 outbreak on a military base in Western Africa spanning over 100 days is statistically analyzed using a Pearson's correlation coefficient. Furthermore, a COVID-19 reproductive number (R0) is evaluated to examine the relationship between specific command-directed policies to mitigate COVID-19 transmission.ResultsThe multidisciplinary partnership of military command, medical, and public health leadership implemented evidence-based and epidemiologically informed COVID-19 preventive base-wide policies, including appropriate isolation/quarantine policies. The R0 for the outbreak was 0.03 and remained <1 for the outbreak duration. This base remained COVID-19 free for multiple weeks after policy implementation.ConclusionsThe implementation of practical mitigating base-wide policies through seamless communication between military command/medical/public health leadership resolved the COVID-19 outbreak while maintaining mission readiness. Weekly COVID-19 testing epidemiological data may be utilized by commanders to direct further decision-making on tightening/loosening base-wide policy restrictions for continued mission-essential operations, e.g., security, food service, or airfield operations.© The Association of Military Surgeons of the United States 2022. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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