Pentagon bans all domestic travel for troops, families to slow virus spread

The Pentagon is taking dramatic steps to ensure troops, civilian workers and their families don't contract the coronavirus, enacting a two-month ban on all domestic travel.

While defense officials will provide exemptions on a case-by-case basis for "mission-essential" trips, most Pentagon travel will grind to a halt until at least May 11, Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist announced Friday.

"The continuing spread of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) necessitates immediate implementation of travel restrictions for domestic Department of Defense (DoD) travel," according to Norquist's memoto employees.

"These restrictions are necessary to preserve force readiness, limit the continuing spread of the virus, and preserve the health and welfare of Service members, DoD civilian employees, their families, and the local communities in which we live," the memo added.

You can read the Pentagon statement here.