840 sailors on USS Theodore Roosevelt test positive for COVID-19, Navy says
HAGATNA, Guam – In a month, the Navy has tested all of the nearly 5,000 sailors of the virus-stricken USS Theodore Roosevelt.
The latest updates as of Friday morning show positive results for coronavirus have climbed to 840 on the aircraft carrier. Negative results amount to 4,098, with 100% of the crew tested, according to the Navy. Dozens of sailors who initially tested negative later tested positive.
Of the total cases, 88 sailors have recovered, up from the 63 reported on Thursday.
The Navy reported 4,234 sailors moved ashore into housing on Naval Base Guam and into hotels in Tamuning and Tumon.
As of Friday, there were four sailors at the U.S. Naval Hospital and none in the ICU.
Since the ship pulled into Guam on March 27, one sailor from the crew, Aviation Ordnanceman Chief Petty Officer Charles Robert Thacker, died after testing positive for the virus.
Quarantined sailors thank Marines
Sailors quarantined in hotels sent thank you messages to the Marines providing support in the hotels. A video showing some of the thank you notes was uploaded to Facebook.
Capt. Vicente Huerta said in the video that one night the sailors coordinated a time to show their appreciation by cheering all at once.
"They came out on the balconies and started cheering and clapping," Huerta said. "I started getting goosebumps and I was like, 'OK, this is a different type of deployment.'"
Only sailors who test negative and who are asymptomatic are quarantined in Guam's hotels. Sailors who test positive remain on base, according to Joint Region Marianas and Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero. Additionally, if sailors show symptoms while in hotels they are taken back to the base, officials have said.
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