USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71, or TR), a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, departs Naval Base San Diego with 4,865 sailors aboard and Capt. Brett Crozier in command. TR sails in company with its strike group on a deployment to the western Pacific region.
A special “preventive medical unit” is aboard, one of four embarked on the ships of the strike group.
But no Navy ship has COVID-19 test kits. “There are currently no FDA-approved testing platforms that are suitable for placement on forward operating Naval Ships,” a Navy official told Breaking Defense around March 18. “So, the ships in the Pacific do not currently have the ability to conduct diagnostic testing for COVID-19. Depending on location, specimens can be sent for testing at shore based labs.”Read More…
