While the world embraced social distancing and self-isolating amid the spread of the coronavirus, the Military Sealift Command (MSC) required thousands of civilian mariners, or "civ-mars," to stay on U.S. Navy ships, sharing tight quarters and cramped workspaces. Many of the mariners complained of a lack of personal protective equipment, like masks and gloves, and feared that the Navy personnel and Defense Department contractors - who embarked and disembarked freely - could come aboard with an infection that would spread COVID-19 and recreate the misery that befell some cruise ships and military vessels at the beginning of the outbreak.
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