COVID-19 Survivors Who Have Been Hospitalized Are Banned From Joining The Military
UPDATE: The military has since updated the ban from all COVID-19 survivors to just a ban on COVID-19 survivors that have been hospitalized. [Source]
As the military is struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Defense Department is working on new guidelines for how it will be handling recruits as well as active service personnel who are diagnosed with or have survived COVID-19.
According to the Military Times, a Pentagon spokesperson confirmed that a diagnosis of COVID-19 will be marked as “permanently disqualifying”. The confirmation came after a memo was released and made its rounds on twitter.
There is currently a lot of speculation as to why the military is choosing to exclude COVID-19 survivors from serving in the military and no real concrete answers. The best working theory I have seen is that scientists don't know the long term effects that COVID-19 has on the body and whether or not you are susceptible to reinfection or being able to transmit the virus later in life.
You can read more about the specifics of the decision by the military on this Military Times article.