Navy
officials say they've been unable to make a definitive link between
hundreds of coronavirus cases on an aircraft carrier and a controversial
port call in Vietnam, leading them to consider the possibility that
pilots delivering goods to the ship carried it aboard.
Carrier
onboard deliveries, known as CODs, could be to blame for the ongoing
health crisis onboard the carrier Theodore Roosevelt, a Navy official
told Military.com. The flights in question could have originated in the
Philippines or Japan as the carrier operated in the Asia-Pacific region,
the official said.
When the first coronavirus cases among the
crew were announced late last month, questions were raised about the
decision to have the ship make a planned stop in Vietnam in early March.
But the sailors got sick with COVID-19, the illness caused by the
coronavirus, 15 days after it left the country, the official said.
The incubation period for COVID-19 is believed to span between two and 14 days.
"It's
not conclusive, and it's very hard to tell if we're going to be able to
get to a conclusive, 'This is where it came from,'" the Navy official
said. The Wall Street Journal
first reported that the Navy was considering CODs as a possible explanation behind the outbreak.
Related: Could Fired Navy Captain Face Charges? Military Justice Experts Weigh In
CODs
bring mail, replacement parts and other supplies out to carriers from
ashore almost daily. The Navy uses C2A Greyhound twin-engine cargo
planes and C
MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft for the mission.
The aircraft typically board the carriers at the start of a
deployment, but leave once land is in range. There, they set up at the nearest large airport and commence shuttle runs, the Smithsonian's
Air and Space magazine described in a feature on their missions.
The
Navy has faced criticism over the decision to have the Roosevelt stop
in Vietnam in early March as coronavirus cases spread throughout the
region. President Donald Trump was one who questioned the decision,
blaming the ship's former commanding officer, Capt. Brett Crozier.
"Perhaps
you don't do that in the middle of a pandemic or something that looked
like it was going to be," Trump said. "History says you don't
necessarily stop and let your sailors get off."
But the call was
made by two admirals in coordination with several other government
agencies. Adm. John Aquilino, head of Pacific fleet, recommended the
port visit occur as scheduled, and Adm. Phil Davidson, head of U.S.
Indo-Pacific Command, approved it, said Cmdr. J. Myers Vasquez, a
Pacific Fleet spokesman.
"This decision was made after a thorough
assessment in coordination with Department of State, Office of the
Secretary of Defense, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, U.S. Pacific Fleet, the
Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense, U.S.
Embassy in Vietnam, and associated health experts," he added.
Chief
of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday has called the decision "a
risk-informed" one and said there were just 16 COVID-19 cases in Vietnam
at the time, and they were isolated in Hanoi.
The guided-missile
cruiser Bunker Hill, which stopped in Vietnam with the Roosevelt, hasn't
reported any COVID-19 cases, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said this
week.
Vasquez said the crews got a brief from medical personnel on
coronavirus prevention. And when two British people tested positive for
the illness at a hotel that dozens of sailors had visited, those
personnel were tested for COVID-19 and placed into quarantine for 14
days, he said.
None of those personnel were among the first three Roosevelt crew members to test positive for COVID-19, Vasquez added.
Both
ships left Vietnam on March 9. The first three Roosevelt sailors to
have flu-like symptoms and test positive for COVID-19 did so on March 24
-- 15 days after they left, Vasquez said.
"Theodore Roosevelt
medical representatives conducted a thorough contact tracing to
determine who these individuals came in contact with in an attempt to
identify the origin of the infection," he added. "Since 14 days had
passed, ship's medical was unable to determine the specific source."
Other
carriers have adjusted their flight operations to prevent pilots and
crews from infecting any sailors onboard, Rear Adm. Andrew Loiselle,
commander of Carrier Strike Group 8, told reporters this week.
The
Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group left the Middle East and was
scheduled to head back to the East Coast. Now it'll continue operating
at sea.
The crew is COVID-19-free, and the Navy needs to have a
healthy strike group at the ready, as the Roosevelt has been sidelined
in Guam for nearly a month now.
Deliveries bound for the strike
group spend enough time aboard supply ships that any possible infected
residue dies off before it's delivered, Loiselle said. And if
helicopters or planes that take the supplies onto the Truman, those
inside aren't allowed to step foot onto the ship.
"We gave them a box lunch and sent them on their way," Loiselle said.
-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins.
Read More: Navy Cancels Carrier Homecoming Plans Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
