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WASHINGTON: Three Sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt tested positive for COVID-19, the Navy said Monday (February 15), less than a year after a massive outbreak on the ship put it out of service in Guam for nearly two months.
The Navy said the three sailors have not had any symptoms, and that they and others who were exposed to them are currently isolated on the carrier, which conducts operations in the Pacific. They tested positive on Sunday.
In a statement, the Navy said it is “pursuing an aggressive mitigation strategy,” which includes masks, social distancing and adequate handwashing and hygiene measures.
“US Pacific Fleet is committed to taking all possible measures to protect the health of our force,” the fleet said in the statement.
READ: ‘Sailors do not need to die’, warns the captain of the US aircraft carrier affected by the coronavirus
The outbreak on the ship last year was the largest the military has seen so far, with more than 1,000 sailors testing positive. A sailor died. Eventually, the 4,800 crew members were sent ashore on Guam for weeks of quarantine, in a systematic progression that kept enough sailors on the ship to keep it safe and operational.
The failure of the ship’s leaders to properly handle the outbreak erupted into one of the biggest military leadership crises in recent years. The ship’s captain, who called for faster action to protect his crew from the rapidly spreading virus, was fired and the one-star admiral on the ship delayed his climb.
Admiral Mike Gilday, chief of naval operations, concluded after an extensive review that both men made serious errors of judgment.
The carrier returned to work about three months after docking in Guam and then returned home to the west coast. Other ships that have been sailing or in their home ports for the past year have had fewer sailors test positive, but none have had such a major outbreak.
The Roosevelt has been deployed to the Pacific in recent weeks, and about a week ago it conducted dual carrier exercises with the USS Nimitz, which is returning home on the west coast from a lengthy deployment to the Middle East.
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