In late March, there were reports of three cases of coronavirus on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. The number quickly grew to dozens and the ship was diverted to Guam. Now, the testing of sailors aboard the Roosevelt is nearly completed. Of 4,865 of the crew who have now been tested, 416 tested positive, and 3,170 tested negative, while the results for another 1,164 are still pending. Of those testing positive, 229 — more than half — showed no symptoms of the disease. About 2,700 crew members have been taken off the ship and are lodged on the base and in hotels on the island. Those who have tested positive are being checked by medics twice a day.
One of the personnel who tested positive was the ship’s commander Captain Brett Crozier, who was fired for raising concerns about the spread of the virus among his crew. Captain Crozier is being treated. One member of the crew was hospitalized Thursday in intensive care on Guam.
The military is beginning to acknowledge that the spread of the virus on Navy ships is likely to only grow worse.
Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told a Pentagon news conference, “It’s not a good idea to think that the Teddy Roosevelt is a one-of-a-kind issue. … We have too many ships at sea. … To think that it will never happen again is not a good way to plan.”
The Navy’s top officer, meanwhile, said the biggest problem is the inability to test enough people quickly, including those aboard the USS Nimitz, the next U.S.-based aircraft carrier due to deploy out to sea.
Just as there has been inadequate testing available ashore, the Navy has not been able to test its crews for the virus quickly and efficiently. While social distancing is possible ashore, that is not the case in the crowding berthing deck on warships.
To be blunt, this is great news. I have listened to active duty and retired military personnel complain that they are tired of people “thanking them for their service”. They want to know why they are in Afghanistan and nine other countries killing people for no justification. Average Americans have not a clue as to exactly where we have stuck our fingers and why. The fact that the long arm of the military might be cut short through this virus might be the best thing that could happened to it. I do not wish harm to this servicepersons, I just want the US to stop harming the other 95 percent of the planet. There is a reason we have been identified as the biggest threat to world peace in a poll taken outside our snow globe about five years ago.