The Navy confirmed Tuesday that the guided-missile destroyer, USS Kidd, arrived to port in San Diego and began removing dozens of coronavirus-infected sailors. The Kidd is the second Navy ship sidelined by the virus while at sea.
The Kidd was off the coast of Central America on a counter-narcotics mission, part of President Trump’s ship increase to U.S. Southern Command, when sailors began to experience influenza-like symptoms.
On Wednesday, one sailor was evacuated to a medical center in San Antonio after experiencing shortness of breath. Hoping to prevent a repeat of the rapid contagion spread and loss of a sailor’s life experienced on the USS Roosevelt, the Navy quickly dispatched a ship with medical capabilities to rendezvous with the Kidd and called the ship home.
The amphibious assault ship, USS Makin Island, outfitted with an intensive care unit, ventilators, and additional testing capability, arrived with eight medical personnel on Thursday and began testing for COVID-19, but the ship was still days away from its nearest U.S. port.
By Monday, cases were increasing rapidly, with 47 of the estimated 350 crew members already infected.
The Roosevelt medically evacuated sailors twice as it steamed to port in Guam in late March. Even after arrival, contagion continued to spread as the Navy struggled to base and isolate sailors. In all, 955 crew members tested positive for COVID-19 of a crew of 4,865, and the ship remains sidelined.
As the Kidd returned, sailors were issued protective garments and N95 masks, part of an evolving strategy to determine how to keep sailors safe and readiness high amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
The United States Pacific Fleet confirmed to the Washington Examiner that the Kidd had arrived in San Diego Tuesday, as planned.
Hoping to prevent another public relations disaster, the Navy said the ship’s executive officer, Cmdr. Matt Noland, began reaching out to family members over social media on Friday.
“The Navy pulled out all the stops — specialist doctors have already arrived from the United States to test and help care for our shipmates,” he wrote in the message.
As the ship sailed back, sailors with symptoms continued to be transferred to the Makin Island, and another sailor was medically evacuated to the United States. The ship’s crew also began intensive cleaning efforts while en route.
Now that the ship has arrived in San Diego, all sailors will be isolated and receive twice-daily medical screenings, the Navy said in a statement. Crew members who have tested negative went into quarantine for observation, part of a new protocol after some Roosevelt sailors had “false negatives.” Those sailors will continue to receive daily visits from health professionals to watch for symptoms.
As in the Roosevelt case, some negative-testing sailors will remain on the ship for essential services. In San Diego, those sailors will be given personal protective equipment and practice social distancing as they deep clean the vessel.
United States Southern Command confirmed to the Washington Examiner that its counter-narcotics mission will not suffer with the loss of the ship, but the command could not confirm at this time if the Navy will replace it.
The deep cleaning process is expected to take two weeks, after which time healthy sailors will return to the ship, and others will begin quarantine.
