Just over a week ago, the Navy relieved the captain of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt for dramatically asking for help as his crew started to come down with COVID-19. Captain Crozier himself has tested positive for coronavirus and now the New York Times reports that one of his sailors has died.
A sailor assigned to the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt has died of complications stemming from the coronavirus, according to Navy officials, marking the first death for the ship’s crew, which numbers more than 4,800.
The sailor was admitted into intensive care at the naval hospital in Guam, where the Roosevelt is currently docked, on April 9, after being found unconscious.
The sailor, according to two military officials, had earlier been hospitalized for respiratory issues and was discharged four days before being found unconscious.
“The Sailor tested positive for Covid-19 March 30, was removed from the ship and placed in an isolation house on Naval Base Guam with four other USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) Sailors,” the Navy said in a statement. “Like other Sailors in isolation, he received medical checks twice daily from Navy medical teams.”
emphasis mine
I don’t know who this sailor was. But I know that the general fitness of those who serve in our military is better than that of the general population. And the story describes the individual as a sailor and not an officer, so the chances are the deceased was a young person. And given the physical requirements to get into the military, probably didn’t have an underlying medical condition.
And he was sick and apparently improving and released and days later collapsed and died.
This isn’t just an old persons disease. This isn’t just a threat to those with other health issues. This is real and a threat to everyone. It’s time for the naysayers to take this seriously. And it’s time for the federal government to actually start taking charge.
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