Nearly 50 sailors aboard USS Kidd test positive for coronavirus

Almost 50 sailors on board the USS Kidd have tested positive for coronavirus, the Navy reported Monday, after the first positive test was confirmed last week.

At least 47 sailors have tested positive for COVID-19 on the second warship to be struck by the virus while at sea. A total of 45 percent of the sailors on the Kidd have been tested, the Navy said in a release. 

Currently, 15 of those sailors who tested positive are on the USS Makin Island while they are being monitored. None of these individuals are in the intensive care unit or on ventilators, and all sailors on the Kidd are wearing personal protective equipment and N95 masks. 

Two sailors from the Kidd have been medically evacuated to the U.S., one of which was the first Kidd sailor to test positive after being taken to a treatment facility in San Antonio, Texas, last week. 

Following the sailor’s diagnosis, the Navy sent an eight-person medical evaluation team to the ship within 24 hours to test the other sailors and complete contact tracing. The ship is expected to return to port to be cleaned, officials have said.

The Kidd follows the USS Theodore Roosevelt’s coronavirus outbreak, where 955 cases are active and 14 are recovered, according to the Navy’s release. All of the sailors on board have been tested, and one sailor is in the U.S. Naval Hospital Guam. Another sailor died at that hospital earlier this month.

Theodore Roosevelt’s Capt. Brett Crozier was fired by then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly for writing a letter that leaked to the media, which cautioned about a coronavirus outbreak if sailors were not evacuated. Modly resigned shortly after because of his handling of the situation.