DoD Impact
While meeting the needs of the nation at large, the DoD continues to battle COVID-19 on ships, bases, and training centers around the world.
As of April 30, the DoD reported just under 7,000 cases within the department. More than 4,500 service members have contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus that cause COVID-19. Of those, 98 required hospitalization and two died.
The Navy reported the largest number of cases, 1,822, with the Army at 1,006. The Air Force and Marine Corps had 36, and 413 cases, respectively, while the National Guard had 821 cases.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt accounted for nearly two-thirds of the Navy’s cases, with nearly one-quarter of the ship’s more than 4,800 sailors having tested positive for the virus. The ship remained docked in Guam, where it had been for more than a month. Since arriving, two sailors have required intensive care and one has died of the infection. Another eight have been hospitalized, although at press time, just three remained in the hospital.
A date for return to deployment remained uncertain, as hundreds of sailors who had initially tested negative and been quarantined for more than 14 days tested subsequently tested positive. The service was working closely with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to better understand the asymptomatic spread of the virus. More than half of the Roosevelt’s cases had no symptoms at the time of their positive test. The Navy continues to investigate the outbreak.
Lessons learned from the Roosevelt were being applied to an outbreak on the USS Kidd, which reported 78 cases as of April 30. The ship docked in San Diego and most sailors were moved to quarantine at a local hotel. The ship had not been in any port since mid-March, and the Kidd’s outbreak appeared to start more than the 14 days later, usually considered the maximum latency for the virus.
