The aircraft carrier, the Theodore Roosevelt, now has 100 sailors infected with COVID19. The captain is pleading for help from Navy officials. Additionally, the Pentagon has ordered military bases to stop releasing COVID19 specific numbers to protect operational security. This is now a matter of National Security.
For more info about Theodore Roosevelt please see diary from last week. When this was first reported, 3 sailors were confirmed positive.
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Captain of aircraft carrier with growing coronavirus outbreak pleads for help from Navy
The captain of a nuclear aircraft carrier with more than 100 sailors infected with the coronavirus pleaded Monday with U.S. Navy officials for resources to allow isolation of his entire crew and avoid possible deaths in a situation he described as quickly deteriorating.
The unusual plea from Capt. Brett Crozier, a Santa Rosa native, came in a letter obtained exclusively by The Chronicle and confirmed by a senior officer on board the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, which has been docked in Guam following a COVID-19 outbreak among the crew of more than 4,000 less than a week ago.
“This will require a political solution but it is the right thing to do,” Crozier wrote. “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our Sailors.
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Pentagon orders military bases to stop releasing specific COVID-19 numbers
The Pentagon has ordered military bases and combatant commands to withhold coronavirus case numbers, citing operational security concerns.
“As we continue to grapple with the novel nature of COVID19, we are constantly assessing and adapting not only how we respond to combatting the virus, but also how we share critical public health information with our communities,” Pentagon spokeswoman Alyssa Farah said in a statement on Monday.
“We will not report the aggregate number of individual service member cases at individual unit, base or Combatant Commands. We will continue to do our best to balance transparency in this crisis with operational security."
Farah said that the Defense Department and each military service will continue to offer a daily, public update of the full number of cases in all services and of civilians, contractors and dependents.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper last week told Reuters that he wants the Pentagon to withhold “mission-specific information” to protect operational security.
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