"The US military academy is returning to school in order to conduct the administrative steps, physicals necessary... so that they are able to report to their next duty station", Ryan McCarthy told a press conference at the Pentagon. "We will conduct the ceremony much as the Air Force did on 18 April".
The Secretary has added that the Army wants to have a “small, safe graduation ceremony” for the cadets to celebrate.
“We have to bring the cadets back to West Point to begin the process of the physicals they need to take, all of the clearance procedures, to clear barracks, get their personal items”, he said. “They have to come back to the academy to begin the process of becoming second lieutenants and to report to their first assignments”.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to address the graduating class.
Since March, cadets of the West Points Academy have stayed home, with their return to classes postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
West Point Academy's graduation ceremonies are usually performed in May in a football stadium.
On Thursday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state has confirmed 900 new coronavirus cases and 306 deaths in the past 24 hours.
