A sailor gets tested for Covid-19 on USS Theodore Roosevelt. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy
A total of 840 sailors with the USS Theodore Roosevelt tested positive for Covid-19 with only 88 having recovered, according to the Navy's latest update following the completion of tests on the ship's entire crew.
The Navy said 100 percent of Roosevelt's 4,800 crew members have been tested, returning 4,098 negative results, but a small number of samples is still pending.
The Navy said, 4,234 sailors have been evacuated from the carrier and moved t the Naval facilities and Tumon hotels.
Four sailors are in U.S. Naval Hospital Guam being treated for Covid-19 symptoms but none of them is in the intensive care unit, the Navy said. One sailor died of Covid-19 complications last week.
While three other carriers – the USS Ronald Reagan (at Yokosuka), USS Nimitz (at Bremerton), USS Carl Vinson-- are experiencing Covid-19 crisis of varying degrees, Roosevelt was hit the worst.
The situation on Roosevelt – which according observers is the most defining moment for the U.S. Navy – drew attention after Capt. Brett Crozier, then commanding officer of the ship, desperately pleaded with the Navy leadership to make a "decisive action" to evacuate sailors from the ship, which he said was conducive to contagion.
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“We are not at war,” Crozier in a letter, which was leaked and first published by San Francisco Chronicle.“Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our sailors.”
He was fired by then acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, who in turn was forced to quit amid pressure for his tactless jab at the carrier's former commanding officer.
The Navy is expected to announce this week the results of its investigation into what transpired on Roosevelt and how Crozier's letter found its way to the media.
Admiral Mike Gilday, chief of naval operations, is also expected to announce whether or not Crozier will be reinstated to his former post.
Roosevelt docked at Apra Harbor on March 27, following a port visit to Vietnam.
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