More than 400 sailors on USS Theodore Roosevelt test positive for coronavirus, one in ICU

Hundreds of sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt have tested positive for coronavirus.

More than a week after Captain Brett Crozier raised warning flags about a coronavirus outbreak aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt — a letter that led to his firing — more than 400 sailors have tested positive.

Of the nearly 4,800 sailors aboard the ship, docked near Guam, 416 have been diagnosed with COVID-19, John Hyten, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday. About 97% of the crew members have been tested so far.

More than 1,100 tests are still pending.

One of the patients, an unidentified sailor, was found unconscious in their room and has been moved to the intensive care unit at the U.S. Naval Hospital Guam. The sailor had tested positive on March 30 and was under a 14-day quarantine.

“We’re hoping that that sailor recovers," Hyten said. “We’re praying for him and his family and his shipmates.”

Hyten also warned that the outbreak aboard the Theodore Roosevelt is likely not the only one for the Navy.

“It’s not a good idea to think that the Teddy Roosevelt is a one of a kind issue,” he said. “We have too many ships at sea, we have too many deployed capabilities, there’s 5,000 sailors on a nuclear powered aircraft, to think that it will never happen again is not a good way to plan.”

The Theodore Roosevelt has been in the middle of a political battle for more than a week after Crozier’s letter to his superiors, warning of the dangers aboard the ship.

Crozier was fired two days later after his letter was published in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Acting Secretary Thomas Modly resigned Tuesday, a day after he addressed the crew aboard the ship, accusing Crozier of being “too stupid or too naive” to be in command.