The Marine Corps has suspended the semi-annual Combat Fitness Test for the rest of the year in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases, according to a social media post from the Marine Corps’ Twitter account.
The Marine Corps previously suspended the Physical Fitness Test in April as the COVID-19 pandemic first forced the nation to come to a standstill.
In September the PFT and body composition program was resumed, and Marines were expected to start conducting the CFT as usual.
In October a summer lull in new cases of the potentially deadly virus came to an end, and the nation started to see a rise in its weekly positive tests along with hospitalizations and deaths.
The new cases spiked with nearly 200,000 the week of Nov. 20, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The spike caused the CDC to warn Americans away from visiting their families for Thanksgiving and caused the National Museum of the Marine Corps near Quantico, Virginia, to close.
On Sunday, Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, told NBC, that American’s ignoring the CDC recommendation to skip this year’s Thanksgiving will lead to another spike in early December.
“All Marines who have not yet conducted the Combat Fitness Test will not do so this year due to the current nationwide #COVID19 environment,” the tweet said.
More details about the CFT cancellation will come in a Marine Corps administrative message that has not been published yet.
