- There is a coronavirus outbreak aboard another US Navy warship at sea, the Pentagon revealed Friday, announcing that there have been multiple cases aboard the destroyer USS Kidd.
- The US Navy revealed in a follow-up statement that 18 sailors assigned to the ship have tested positive.
- The outbreak marks the second aboard a deployed warship, following the outbreak aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, which saw over 800 sailors test positive.
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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 on the USS Kidd, revealing that there were over a dozen cases. The Navy said in a follow-up statement that as of Friday morning, 18 sailors on the ship have tested positive.
A medical team has been sent out to the ship to conduct evaluations and contact tracing.
"We are taking every precaution to ensure we identify, isolate, and prevent any further spread onboard the ship," Rear Adm. Don Gabrielson, commander of US Naval Forces Southern Command/US 4th Fleet, said in a Navy statement. "Our medical team continues coordinating with the ship and our focus is the safety and well-being of every Sailor."
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 first sailor to test positive on the USS Kidd, the Navy said, is stable and receiving treatment at a facility in San Antonio, Texas.
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 aircraft carrier 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.