Now 710 of USS Roosevelt's crew have tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks after the captain was sacked...

....for writing a memo requesting help to tackle the virus

more at
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...in-sacked.html

*Of the ship's crew, 94 percent have been tested, with 710 positive results

*One sailor from the Roosevelt died as a result of the disease on April 13

*Ship became infamous after its captain's leaked email urging action from Navy

*Captain Crozier was relived from active duty for warning of outbreak on board

Nearly all crew members of the USS Roosevelt, the aircraft carrier struck-down
with an outbreak of the coronavirus, have been tested for the disease according
to the U.S. Navy, with 710 positive results.

The battleship became infamous when it's now ex-captain Brett Crozier's letter
leaked, in which he urged senior military officials to take action to safeguard
sailors aboard the Roosevelt.

'As of today, 94% of USS Theodore Roosevelt crew members were tested for
Covid-19, with 710 total positive and 3,872 negative results,' a release from
the U.S. Navy on Tuesday said.

Of the 710 positive cases, nine sailors are being treated at the U.S. Naval
Hospital in Guam, 42 have recovered and one sailor has died as a result of the
disease. The remaining 3,872 crew members tested received negative results.

In a move that foreshadowed the figures released today by the Navy and the
crisis that the battleship's crew now find themselves in, Crozier wrote a latter
to fellow personnel detailing the unfolding situation on board the USS
Roosevelt.

After four consecutive days of rebuttals from his superiors, on March 30,
Crozier took matters into his own hands and composed the unclassified email to
20 Navy personnel in the Pacific, asking for their help.

Insisting in the message that 'Sailors don't need to die', friends of Crozier
told the New York Times the 30-year veteran would have known sending the email
would likely end his career, but he persevered regardless. after a doctor warned
50 crew could lose their lives if nothing was done.

'We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are
failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our Sailors,' the
Captain wrote in the leaked letter. 'The spread of the disease is ongoing and
accelerating.'

Crozier was controversially fired by acting Navy secretary Thomas B. Modly after
the email was leaked, presumably by one of its 20 recipients.

In a trip to Guam that cost taxpayers at least $243,000, according to CNBC,
Modly addressed the crew of the Roosevelt using the ship's loudspeaker and
doubled down on his decision to relieve Crozier, calling him 'naive' and
'stupid.'

He issued an apology hours later and has since has resigned as acting secretary.
According to officials, he decided to oust the captain because he thought it was
what President Trump would want.

Crozier was first made aware of an outbreak aboard the Roosevelt on March 24,
when three sailors in the reactor department - operating the ship's nuclear
reactors - tested positive for the virus.

The three men were extracted from the ship by helicopter and flown to a Navy
hospital in Guam. Two days later the ship docked in Guam and tests were
conducted on the entire crew.

It was during this time that Crozier began feuding with his superior on board
the ship, Rear Admiral Stuart P. Baker.

Crozier believed it was necessary to evacuate the majority of those onboard,
except for 400 members of the crew, quarantine them and have them tested while
the ship was subject to a deep-clean.

But Baker disagreed, and back in Washington Modly and other members of the Navy
high command sought alternative options. Baker believed an evacuation was too
drastic and Modly expressed concern that Guam could not house the carrier's crew
even if they did.

Instead, the Navy suggested sending the Roosevelt to Okinawa, Japan, or San
Diego instead. They also suggested leaving 4,000 on board the ship and allowing
1000 to disembark.

While his superiors meandered, COVID-19 cases aboard the ship continued to
increase and Captain Crozier began composing a four-page letter to sent via
email.

Titled 'REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC', Crozier wrote:
'There are two end states T.R. could achieve... We go to war with the force we
have and fight sick,' in which case he said 'there will be losses to the virus.'

Alternatively, the Times reported, Crozier suggested the ship could try to
'achieve a COVID-free T.R.,' with all the necessary evacuation.

'As war is not imminent, we recommend pursuing the peace time end state,'
Captain Crozier wrote.

The captain showed the letter to a number of senior officers on the ship, who
asked to sign the letter in solidarity with him. However, the captain declined,
fearing the implication it could have on their careers.

The following day, on March 31, Crozier's letter was published in the San
Francisco Chronicle, having likely been leaked by one of the email's 20
recipients. Crozier's letter contradicted the Trump administration's claims that
the situation aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt was under control.

'It's disappointing to have him say that,' Modly said during a press conference
on April 1. 'We’re doing everything we can.'

U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Gilday, chief of naval operations, will decide whether to
reinstate Crozier to his position in the U.S. Navy after an investigation.
Crozier is believed to have tested positive for the coronavirus.





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