A member of the crew of the coronavirus-infected USS Theodore Roosevelt on Monday died of complications related to the disease, 11 days after the aircraft carrier’s captain was fired for pressing his concern that the US Navy had done too little to safeguard his crew.
The sailor was the first active-duty military member to die of COVID-19.
The navy also announced that an aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Harry S. Truman, which had been heading home to Norfolk, Virginia, from a monthslong deployment in the Middle East, would instead be kept in the Atlantic as a way to protect the ship’s crew from coronavirus.
“The navy is taking this measure to maintain the strike group’s warfighting capability while ensuring the safety of the crew,” the navy said in a statement.
There are no known coronavirus cases aboard the Truman or the other ships in its strike group.
The navy said that it would evaluate “this dynamic situation” and would provide an update to the crew of the Truman and their families in approximately three weeks.
The Roosevelt sailor who died, whose name and other identifying information were not publicly released pending notification of relatives, had tested positive for coronavirus on March 30 and was taken off the ship and placed in “isolation housing” along with four other sailors at the US navy base on Guam.
On Thursday last week, he was found unresponsive during a medical check and was moved to a local hospital’s intensive care unit.
Over the weekend, four additional Roosevelt crew members were admitted to the hospital for monitoring of their symptoms, the navy said.
All are in stable condition and none are in intensive care or on ventilators.
The death was the first among the crew of approximately 4,860, of which 585 had tested positive for coronavirus as of Monday.
Slightly more than 4,000 crew members have been moved ashore. A number have been kept aboard to attend to the enormous ship’s nuclear reactors and other sensitive systems.
The Navy’s top officer issued a statement of condolence.
“My deepest sympathy goes out to the family, and we pledge our full support to the ship and crew as they continue their fight against the coronavirus,” said Admiral Mike Gilday, the chief of naval operations. “While our ships, submarines and aircraft are made of steel, sailors are the real strength of our navy.”
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