Significant number of returning Navy midshipmen test positive for coronavirus

Multiple midshipmen returning to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., have tested positive for COVID-19, the Navy confirmed on Monday.

Naval Academy spokesperson Cdr. Alana Garas told The Hill that of the fewer than 4,000 midshipmen residing in Bancroft Hall, the school’s main dormitory, “less than 2 percent” are currently COVID-19 positive.

ABC News first reported the positive test results.

The Defense Department does not release the exact number of infected individuals in military units or facilities due to operational security concerns.

Garas added that the school began a staggered return in mid-July and expects to have about 90 percent of students back in Annapolis by mid-September.

Naval Academy leadership earlier this month announced that midshipmen would be brought back for the fall semester, starting Wednesday, for a combination of in-person and online classes, though in-person classes will be at half capacity.

The academy also decided to limit Bancroft Hall’s occupancy to roughly 90 percent, with about 4,100 of the 4,600 midshipmen to live in the dorm “to maintain adequate quarantine and isolation space, as well as to decrease the population density within the building.”

For the remaining roughly 500 midshipmen, “several alternatives are being explored for appropriate accommodations,” according to the school.

The Naval Academy joins the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in having its students return to campus for the fall semester. 

The Air Force Academy, which began its academic year last week, had the entire class of roughly 4,400 cadets return to lessons split between online and in-person, with smaller in-person class sizes.

The school also said that it would house 400 students in off-campus hotels for at least the fall semester.

At West Point, meanwhile, about 1.5 percent of students tested positive when its 4,400 cadets returned for summer training in July. 

—Updated at 4:05 p.m.