At least 23 sailors aboard Navy aircraft carrier have coronavirus. Crew to be tested

Note: The McClatchy Washington Bureau and McClatchy news sites have lifted the paywall on this developing story, providing critical information to readers. To support vital reporting such as this, please consider a digital subscription.

At least 23 crew members aboard the Navy’s aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt have tested positive for the coronavirus, and all 5,000 sailors aboard will now be tested as the ship docks in quarantine in Guam, the Navy said Thursday.

The San Diego-based Roosevelt had been deployed in the Pacific and completed a port visit to Da Nang, Vietnam, on March 9. Fifteen days later, while at sea, three sailors tested positive for COVID-19 and were flown off the ship.

“We found several more cases on board the ship,” Navy Secretary Thomas Modly told reporters at the Pentagon. “We are now in the process of testing 100 percent of the crew of that ship to ensure that we are able to contain whatever spread might have occurred there.”

A Navy official later confirmed the number as of Thursday was 23 cases on board the carrier, as was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The number of coronavirus cases may have risen to 25, and may increase further as more sailors are tested, the official told McClatchy. “The number is changing,” the official said.

Modly said the sailors who had tested positive had only experienced mild symptoms.

“Aches and pains, and sore throats, but nothing that required hospitalization,” he said.

The Roosevelt has been directed to Guam, where it will dock while the whole crew is tested for the coronavirus. Some will receive swab tests and others will get surveillance testing, Modly said.

The Roosevelt has about 800 test kits on board and “we’re flying more on there today,” he said. The ship also has a limited capacity to process the tests, he said.

The Navy’s press office did not immediately have information on how many sailors will get the swab test versus a surveillance test, and what a surveillance test includes.

While the ship is in Guam, the sailors will be confined on board, or on the pier, depending on their duties.

“No one on the crew will be allowed to leave anywhere into Guam other than on pierside,” Modly said. “We are already in the process of testing 100 percent of the crew to ensure that we’ve got that contained.”