Did Eglin Air Force Base make masks, COVID-19 testing, and booster shots mandatory after Labor Day 2023? No, that's not true: In a brief statement, the deputy chief of media operations with the Department of the Air Force at the Pentagon denied the rumor. He informed Lead Stories, "There are no COVID guidelines or mandates being implemented at Eglin Air Force Base."
The rumor originated with a September 2, 2023, post on X (formerly Twitter) published by @scarlett4kids (archived here), which opened:
My son-in-law's Air Force base in Florida is making masks, Covid-19 testing, and jab boosters MANDATORY after Labor Day.
All because TWO positive cases. They aren't even sick. Mandatory testing to go on leave. JoeBiden's @CDCgov is thirsty.
It's coming folks. RESIST.
Never Again.
This is what the post looked like on Twitter at the time of writing:
In a follow-up post (archived here) on September 2, 2023, @scarlett4kids clarified which air force base she was referring to:
Yes, this is for real.
Eglin Air Force Base, Florida
Lead Stories reached out to the Defense Press Operations office in the Pentagon on September 18, 2023, to ask if there was any basis to this claim. The deputy chief of media operations at the Department of the Air Force responded the same day:
There are no COVID guidelines or mandates being implemented at Eglin Air Force Base.
Lead Stories has reached out to the public affairs team at Eglin Air Force Base and will update this article, if appropriate, when an Eglin representative replies.
