600 sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt test positive for coronavirus
The US Navy has revealed on Sunday that nearly 600 sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt have tested positive for coronavirus.
The US Navy has evacuated almost 4,000 sailors, which makes it more than 80 percent of the crew, airwing and embarked staffs ashore in Naval Base Guam, where this carrier is in port.
As being reported, some of the crew have to stay aboard to guard the ship and to maintain its two nuclear reactors.
Sailors evacuated from the ship are being kept in isolation for 14 days in local hotels and other available facilities.
USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) is the fourth Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the United States Navy. She is named in honor of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States.
The carrier’s former captain had pleaded with the Navy to remove the majority of the crew in response to the virus and was relieved of his command after a letter he wrote leaked to the media.
The first three COVID-19 cases aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt were announced on March 24.
(Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Rivera/U.S. Navy)
On March 30, Capt. Brett Crozier, then commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, had written a letter warning that “the spread of the disease is ongoing and accelerating.”
He called on the Navy to take decisive action and evacuate the overwhelming majority of the crew in response to the virus. However, he was relieved of his command after a letter he wrote leaked to the media.
A sailor assigned to the San Diego-based aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt is in intensive care at U.S. Naval Hospital Guam after being found unresponsive in his room, the US Navy said on Thursday.
The sailor tested positive for COVID-19 on March 30, according to the Navy.
