Coronavirus shuts down second warship. It was helping drug fights in South America
A sailor on the Navy destroyer USS Kidd, which was deployed in support of U.S. Southern Command’s counternarcotics operations, was medevaced off the ship due to the coronavirus, and at least another 17 sailors have tested positive onboard, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said Friday.
The sailor was flown off the Kidd to a hospital in San Antonio, “where he was tested and unfortunately found to be positive with COVID,” Hoffman told reporters at the Pentagon.
The ship had been operating off the coast of El Salvador, a defense official said on condition of anonymity.
The Navy flew a medical team to the Kidd to begin testing the crew and found additional cases, the Navy said in a statement.
“As of this morning, 17 additional Sailors have tested positive. Testing continues, and we expect additional cases. All measures are being taken to evaluate the extent of the COVID-19 transmission on the ship,” the Navy said.
The Kidd is “preparing to return to port, where they will undertake efforts to clean the ship, they will remove a portion of the crew from the ship and work to get everyone back to health and the ship back to sea,” Hoffman said.
He said the decision to immediately medevac the sailor and get the ship to port quickly was made based on lessons learned from the continuing coronavirus outbreak aboard the aircraft carrier USS Roosevelt, which has been sidelined in Guam for more than a month. More than 800 of the almost 5,000 sailors on the Roosevelt tested positive for the coronavirus and one sailor died.
The USS Kidd is a much smaller warship with a total crew of about 330, according to a Navy fact sheet.
The Navy did not reveal what port the Kidd would return to, or when it might return to duty.
“The first patient transported is already improving and will self-isolate. We are taking every precaution to ensure we identify, isolate, and prevent any further spread onboard the ship,” Rear Adm. Don Gabrielson, commander U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, said in a statement. “Onboard test results will inform operational decisions.”
The Kidd is one of several military ships and aircraft supporting Southern Command’s enhanced counternarcotics operations that were announced by the White House earlier this month.
Updates with total crew on USS Kidd.
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 12:38 PM with the headline "Coronavirus shuts down second warship. It was helping drug fights in South America."
