Limited access to public spaces is causing a strain on armed services recruitment goals, Military.com reports.

“Right now, the trend is in the wrong direction,” said Maj. Gen. Edward Thomas Jr., Air Force Recruiting Service’s commander. “I’m confident that we will be able to find ways to meet our goals in ’21 with qualified recruits, but it’s going to be harder.”

The Air Force originally planned on recruiting 30,000 new personnel in 2020. Service leaders reduced that the number to 27,611 after the pandemic started.

Recruiting tactics have pivoted towards phone and email, Thomas says, but the former are less fruitful.

“We’re continuing to look for ways to engage in the classroom and online, being able to do virtual school visits, looking for a variety of ways to provide value to educators and schools and other virtual forums to bring in recruits.”

U.S. Army Photo by Alun Thomas, USAREC Public Affairs