Thirteen sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt have again tested positive for the coronavirus after reportedly recovering from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, the Navy confirmed.
Eight sailors aboard the aircraft carrier tested positive for the disease after previously testing negative, Navy officials told Politico on Saturday.
They were in addition to five sailors who tested positive after recording two negative tests, meeting “rigorous recovery criteria” and being cleared to return to duty, a Navy spokesman said on Thursday.
All 13 sailors have been moved off the ship, NPR reported.
The Roosevelt is currently anchored in Guam after an outbreak aboard the ship that came to light in March. Officials have since reported more than 1,100 cases on the ship, and thousands of sailors have been evacuated to land as officials deal with the outbreak on board.
The ship’s former commanding officer, Capt. Brett Crozier, was removed from duty last month after pleading with his superiors in a public memo for help responding to the health crisis on the carrier.
After Crozier was removed, President Donald Trump criticized the captain for raising alarm bells “unnecessarily.” “I thought it was terrible what he did, to write a letter,” Trump said at the time. “This isn’t a class on literature.”
On April 13, the Navy reported the first death of a Roosevelt sailor from COVID-19.
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