Coronavirus Claims First Life Onboard USS Theodore Roosevelt

A sailor assigned to the US Navy’s USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier has died from COVID-19 infection.

The sailor was admitted to the intensive care unit of the US Naval Hospital in Guam on April 9, nearly ten days after he tested positive on March 30.  He died of complications related to COVID-19 on Monday, the Navy announced Monday morning.

The name of the sailor is being withheld until 24 hours after next-of-kin notification.

The sailor was removed from the ship and placed in an isolation house on Naval Base Guam with four other USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) Sailors after he was found to be infected with the deadly virus.

USS Theodore Roosevelt was taken to Guam in late March for quarantine after 23 sailors tested positive for the virus. The number of confirmed positive cases on the warship has now spiked to nearly 550, which is 10% of the roughly 4,800-person crew.

So far, COVID-19 infection has been confirmed aboard three of the US Navy’s carriers other than USS Theodore Roosevelt- USS Nimitz, USS Ronald Reagan and USS Carl Vinson.