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Three US sailors test positive for coronavirus and are airlifted off aircraft carrier in the Pacific as port visits for all Navy ships are banned
PUBLISHED: 09:35 EDT, 25 March 2020 |
Three U.S. sailors from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt located in the Pacific have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus and airlifted from the ship, officials confirmed Tuesday.
The ship, which has more than 5,000 personnel on board, is not being pulled from the front line but those who are believed to have been contact with the patients have been quarantined, Acting Navy Secretary Thomas B. Modly said.
U.S. Navy ships are now banned from going to port as it was confirmed that the USS Theodore Roosevelt docked in Vietnam, where there are known cases, 15 days ago.
Overall, the Navy has 86 coronavirus cases, including 57 active-duty service members, but officials have now engaged in a policy change which protects them from revealing the exact ship involved in further confirmed cases.
It is notoriously difficult to protect a ship from a virus outbreak, as has already been seen in cruise ship outbreaks of the coronavirus.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier has more than 5,000 personnel on board and has confirmed Tuesday the first coronavirus cases in the U.S. Navy aboard a ship at sea
Lt. Cmdr. Danett Bishop tests respiratory samples in the biological safety lab of amphibious assault ship USS America. There is also coronavirus testing taking place on the ship after three positive cases were confirmed on the USS Theodore Roosevelt on Tuesday
The patients on board the USS Theodore Roosevelt had mild symptoms such as a fever and 'some body aches'.
'We've identified all the folks they've had contact with, and we're quarantining them as well,' Modly said at a Pentagon news conference.
'This is an example of how we are able to keep our ships deployed at seas and underway, even with active COVID-19 cases. Our force remains on watch throughout the world [during] this crisis, and they're continuing to execute their primary mission under the National Defense Strategy.'
The USS Theodore Roosevelt was deployed from San Diego in January to the western Pacific.
On March 5, it made a port call in Da Nang, Vietnam, a country where there were known coronavirus cases. At that time, the number of cases in the country was low and all were in the northern part of the country away from the port.
'At that time, there were only 16 positive cases in Vietnam, and those are well to the north all isolated in Hanoi,' said Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Gilday.
Sailors participate in a small-arms qualification aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Pacific on March 22 before coronavirus cases were confirmed on board
Sailors standing in line on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt where the first coronavirus cases aboard a Navy ship at sea were confirmed on Tuesday
'So this was a very risk-informed decision by the (Indo-Pacific) commander, Adm. Davidson, on whether or not we proceed with that port visit.
'We took great precautions when the crew came back from that shore visit, and did enhanced medical screenings of the crew.'
Gilday added that it is not certain the sailors contracted the virus in Vietnam as other personnel regularly fly on and off the carrier while at sea.
Extra precautions had also been taken to protect the crew in Vietnam such as limiting self-service in the ship's chow hall and screening sailors coming back on board for illness.
These measures are set to continue on the ship and there is no plan as yet to pull it in from the front lines.
Sailors live within close conditions on the ship in staterooms and berthing spaces.
People are asked to leave six feet between themselves and other people to prevent the spread of the virus which would be next to impossible in the crowded quarters.
'They are beefing up their cleaning stations,' Cmdr. Myers Vasquez, a spokesman for the Pacific Fleet, told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
'Across the fleet, (ship commanders) have been looking at best practices and implementing them. Everyone's following what (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidance is and putting those into effect.'
Port visits across the Pacific fleet have been called off and ships have been ordered to stay at sea for 14 days to isolate sailors.
'We canceled, I think, every port visit, with the exception of ships that need to pull in for maintenance or resupply. In those cases, when you pull in, (sailors) are limited to the pier,' Gilday said.
On March 13, the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer, currently in port in San Diego, reported one of its personnel had tested 'presumptive positive' for the virus. A second cases on board was confirmed a few days later.
And a sailor aboard the Littoral Combat Ship USS Coronado, also in San Diego, tested positive before the Navy changed their policy and are now no longer confirming which ship positive sailors serve on.
They will now 'only release the number of positive cases and the geographic location of those sailors', according the Military.com.
The virus has spread to at least a dozen serving on U.S. warships in San Diego.
Testing is also being conducted on the amphibious assault ship USS America and the 7th Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge, both based in the Pacific.
On Monday the USNS Mercy deployed 1,128 military personnel and civilians to Los Angeles to bring care to COVID-19 patients in the city while the USNS Comfort is preparing for a similar mission to New York.
The ships will serve as a dockside hospital for patients not infected with the coronavirus, dealing with the overflow of acute trauma and other urgent needs.
'This will allow our shore-based hospitals to focus their medical care and resources on patients with COVID-19,' Modley said
'We will coordinate closely with state and local public health authorities to ensure the well-being of our personnel and the local population.'
The Navy has 86 coronavirus cases including 57 military, 13 civilians, 11 dependents and five contractors.
Ships can be difficult to protect during an outbreak as seen with the Diamond Princess and Grand Princess cruise ships which became coronavirus outbreak centers earlier this year.
In 2019, a mumps outbreak aboard the USS Fort McHenry infected 28 people despite efforts to quarantine the infected and disinfect the ship from the vaccine-preventable disease.
There is no current vaccine for the coronavirus.
- Three sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt tested positive
- They are the first cases aboard a U.S. warship at sea
- They have been evacuated from the ship which is underway in the Pacific
- Other sailors they may have come into contact with have been quarantined
- The ship docked in Vietnam on March 5 but it cannot be certain how the sailors were infected
- The Navy has 86 coronavirus cases, including 57 active-duty service members
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
PUBLISHED: 09:35 EDT, 25 March 2020 |
Three U.S. sailors from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt located in the Pacific have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus and airlifted from the ship, officials confirmed Tuesday.
The ship, which has more than 5,000 personnel on board, is not being pulled from the front line but those who are believed to have been contact with the patients have been quarantined, Acting Navy Secretary Thomas B. Modly said.
U.S. Navy ships are now banned from going to port as it was confirmed that the USS Theodore Roosevelt docked in Vietnam, where there are known cases, 15 days ago.
Overall, the Navy has 86 coronavirus cases, including 57 active-duty service members, but officials have now engaged in a policy change which protects them from revealing the exact ship involved in further confirmed cases.
It is notoriously difficult to protect a ship from a virus outbreak, as has already been seen in cruise ship outbreaks of the coronavirus.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier has more than 5,000 personnel on board and has confirmed Tuesday the first coronavirus cases in the U.S. Navy aboard a ship at sea
Lt. Cmdr. Danett Bishop tests respiratory samples in the biological safety lab of amphibious assault ship USS America. There is also coronavirus testing taking place on the ship after three positive cases were confirmed on the USS Theodore Roosevelt on Tuesday
The patients on board the USS Theodore Roosevelt had mild symptoms such as a fever and 'some body aches'.
'We've identified all the folks they've had contact with, and we're quarantining them as well,' Modly said at a Pentagon news conference.
'This is an example of how we are able to keep our ships deployed at seas and underway, even with active COVID-19 cases. Our force remains on watch throughout the world [during] this crisis, and they're continuing to execute their primary mission under the National Defense Strategy.'
The USS Theodore Roosevelt was deployed from San Diego in January to the western Pacific.
On March 5, it made a port call in Da Nang, Vietnam, a country where there were known coronavirus cases. At that time, the number of cases in the country was low and all were in the northern part of the country away from the port.
'At that time, there were only 16 positive cases in Vietnam, and those are well to the north all isolated in Hanoi,' said Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Gilday.
Sailors participate in a small-arms qualification aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Pacific on March 22 before coronavirus cases were confirmed on board
Sailors standing in line on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt where the first coronavirus cases aboard a Navy ship at sea were confirmed on Tuesday
'So this was a very risk-informed decision by the (Indo-Pacific) commander, Adm. Davidson, on whether or not we proceed with that port visit.
'We took great precautions when the crew came back from that shore visit, and did enhanced medical screenings of the crew.'
Gilday added that it is not certain the sailors contracted the virus in Vietnam as other personnel regularly fly on and off the carrier while at sea.
Extra precautions had also been taken to protect the crew in Vietnam such as limiting self-service in the ship's chow hall and screening sailors coming back on board for illness.
These measures are set to continue on the ship and there is no plan as yet to pull it in from the front lines.
Sailors live within close conditions on the ship in staterooms and berthing spaces.
People are asked to leave six feet between themselves and other people to prevent the spread of the virus which would be next to impossible in the crowded quarters.
'They are beefing up their cleaning stations,' Cmdr. Myers Vasquez, a spokesman for the Pacific Fleet, told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
'Across the fleet, (ship commanders) have been looking at best practices and implementing them. Everyone's following what (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidance is and putting those into effect.'
Port visits across the Pacific fleet have been called off and ships have been ordered to stay at sea for 14 days to isolate sailors.
'We canceled, I think, every port visit, with the exception of ships that need to pull in for maintenance or resupply. In those cases, when you pull in, (sailors) are limited to the pier,' Gilday said.
On March 13, the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer, currently in port in San Diego, reported one of its personnel had tested 'presumptive positive' for the virus. A second cases on board was confirmed a few days later.
And a sailor aboard the Littoral Combat Ship USS Coronado, also in San Diego, tested positive before the Navy changed their policy and are now no longer confirming which ship positive sailors serve on.
They will now 'only release the number of positive cases and the geographic location of those sailors', according the Military.com.
The virus has spread to at least a dozen serving on U.S. warships in San Diego.
Testing is also being conducted on the amphibious assault ship USS America and the 7th Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge, both based in the Pacific.
On Monday the USNS Mercy deployed 1,128 military personnel and civilians to Los Angeles to bring care to COVID-19 patients in the city while the USNS Comfort is preparing for a similar mission to New York.
The ships will serve as a dockside hospital for patients not infected with the coronavirus, dealing with the overflow of acute trauma and other urgent needs.
'This will allow our shore-based hospitals to focus their medical care and resources on patients with COVID-19,' Modley said
'We will coordinate closely with state and local public health authorities to ensure the well-being of our personnel and the local population.'
The Navy has 86 coronavirus cases including 57 military, 13 civilians, 11 dependents and five contractors.
Ships can be difficult to protect during an outbreak as seen with the Diamond Princess and Grand Princess cruise ships which became coronavirus outbreak centers earlier this year.
In 2019, a mumps outbreak aboard the USS Fort McHenry infected 28 people despite efforts to quarantine the infected and disinfect the ship from the vaccine-preventable disease.
There is no current vaccine for the coronavirus.
