Brett Crozier, captain of the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt wrote a four-page letter desperately seeking help to quarantine its crew as coronavirus is spreading uncontrollably in the ship.
Reacting to the desperate plea of the captain, Defence Secretary Mark Esper is said to have told that there was no chance of evacuating the ship. He said that the plight of the ship was similar to civilian cruise ships that are facing the ill-effects of Covid-19 spread. Also speaking on CBS Evening News, Esper told that supplies and medical assistance was being provided at the Roosevelt. Additional medical personnel are also being provided as they need it, he said.
Esper ruled out quarantining the crew
Esper ruled out quarantining the crew outside the ship as he opined that none of them (crew) were seriously ill and said that the Navy is making sure that we contain the virus and deploy testing kits. In the letter the captain had explained that at least life of 4,000 crew members in the ship that is docked at Guam, a US territory in the Pacific are in danger.
He is said to have written that "We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. The spread of the disease is ongoing and accelerating," as per the letter published in The San Francisco Chronicle. He is said to have explained that inside the ship, there is space constraint and social distancing cannot be practised putting the life of thousands of crew in danger. He explained quarantining may seem like an extraordinary measure, but it is a necessary risk. Thus he requested that crew to be quarantined at Geum, where the ship is docked right now.
Explaining the seriousness of the problem the captain of the ship referred to the conditions people had to suffer in the Diamond Princess ship that has taken 11 lives so far and more than 716 have been confirmed to have tested positive for coronavirus.
Over 100 on warship tested positive
More than 100 of the crew members inside the warship have tested positive for coronavirus as on March 27, reported The Chronicle. However the content of the letter have not been confirmed by the US Navy. But acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly had told CNN that the situation inside the ship was serious, and that they had been working to move the people off of the Roosevelt.
Reports claim that the crew of Roosevelt ship might have got infections when the ship stopped in Vietnam. The ship was docked at Da Nang port for five days in early March and a number of positive cases of coronavirus were reported in Vietnam by then. Currently, USA has recorded 188,592 confirmed cases and 4,055 deaths.
