There is a coronavirus outbreak aboard another US Navy warship at sea — this time a destroyer
- There is a coronavirus outbreak aboard another US Navy warship at sea, the Pentagon revealed Friday, revealing that there have been multiple cases aboard the destroyer USS Kidd.
- While the Pentagon did not reveal the total number of cases, CNN, citing Navy officials, reports that at least 18 sailors have tested positive.
- The outbreak marks the second aboard a deployed warship, following the outbreak aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt.
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There is a coronavirus outbreak aboard another US Navy warship at sea, this time aboard the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Kidd, the Department of Defense revealed Friday.
Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday that one sailor aboard the warship who displayed coronavirus symptoms was flown off the ship. The sailor was found to be positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
"There have been other positive cases," the spokesman said, without revealing the total number of cases. Reuters first reported the outbreak, revealing that there were over a dozen cases. CNN, citing Navy officials, reported that there are at least 18 positive cases aboard the destroyer.
A medical team has been sent out to the ship to conduct evaluations and contact tracing.
The destroyer, which has been conducting a counternarcotics mission in the US Southern Command area of responsibility, will be returning to port, where a portion of the crew will be removed while the ship is disinfected.
The outbreak aboard the USS Kidd marks the second coronavirus outbreak aboard a ship at sea.
The first deployed warship to see sailors fall ill with the novel coronavirus was the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, which was deployed to the Pacific.
The Navy announced the first three cases aboard the carrier on March 24. The number of cases quickly multiplied, and the ship was forced into port in Guam, where it has been out of commission for a month.
The service said Thursday that it has finished testing the entire crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, and 840 sailors have tested positive for the virus.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt is mostly empty at the moment, as around 88% of the crew of roughly 4,800 sailors has been moved ashore in Guam. One sailor assigned to the carrier, 41-year-old Aviation Ordnanceman Chief Petty Officer Charles Robert Thacker Jr., died of the virus earlier this month.