Navy delays plans to move sailors back onto USS Theodore Roosevelt after coronavirus outbreak

The Navy will delay moving some sailors back onboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, citing crew members who are still testing positive after a 14-day quarantine period.

Further testing has been halted and isolation periods are being extended for sailors, more than three weeks after the ship docked in Guam on March 27, according to a memo viewed by Politico.

“Results of out-testing portions of the TR crew following 14 days of quarantine leads us to reevaluate our assessment of how the virus can remain active in an asymptomatic host,” according to the memo sent to crew members.

Crew members who tested negative are held off-shore in hotels, houses, and facilities at the naval base in Guam.

A Naval official told The Hill a small percentage of sailors who previously tested negative were re-tested as positive, delaying 100 percent of the crew from returning to the aircraft carrier.

On Monday, 94 percent of the crew had been tested for the virus, resulting in 678 positive cases and 3,904 negative ones, according to Politico.