At Least 3 Sailors Have COVID On U.S. Ship That Saw Massive Outbreak Last Year

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WASHINGTON (AP) – Three sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt have tested positive for COVID-19, the Navy said on Monday, in Guam for less than a year due to a massive outbreak on the ship It was sidelined for two months.

The Navy said the three sailors have no symptoms, and that they and others who were in contact with them are currently isolated on the aircraft carrier, which is operating in the Pacific. He tested positive Sunday.

In a statement, the Navy said it is “following aggressive mitigation tactics”, including masks, social distinctions and appropriate handwashing and hygiene measures.

“The US Pacific Fleet is committed to taking all possible measures to protect the health of our force,” the fleet said in the statement.

Its outbreak on the ship last year was the largest military ever seen, with over 1,000 sailors testing positive. A sailor was killed. Eventually all 4,800 crew members were sent ashore in Guam for weeks of quarantine in an orderly progression that placed enough sailors onboard to keep it safe and running.

The failure of ship leaders to properly deal with the explosion in one of the biggest military leadership crises in recent years. The ship’s captain, who had called for swift action to protect his crew from the rapidly spreading virus, and the one-star admiral aboard the ship delayed his promotion.

Chief of Naval Operations Adam Mike Gilde concluded after a lengthy review that the two men made serious errors in judgment.

The carrier returned to duty after about three months after docking in Guam and then back home on the West Coast. Other ships that have been in operation for the past year or at their domestic ports have had fewer trials of sailors, but none have had such a major outbreak.

Roosevelt has been out on deployment in the Pacific in recent weeks, and held dual carrier exercises with the USS Nimitz nearly a week ago, returning home to the West Coast from a long deployment in the Middle East.