Second Roosevelt sailor with coronavirus sent to intensive care

A second sailor from the USS Theodore Roosevelt who has the coronavirus has been moved to an intensive care unit, the Navy said Tuesday.

The sailor was admitted to the ICU at the U.S. Naval Hospital Guam “for increased observation due to shortness of breath,” the Navy said in a news release.

Three other Roosevelt sailors are also at the hospital, but not in the ICU, it added.

The news comes a day after the first Roosevelt sailor taken to the ICU died due to complications related to COVID-19.

The sailor, who has not been publicly identified, died Monday after being found unresponsive in his room Thursday.

The coronavirus outbreak aboard the Roosevelt has turned into a political firestorm after the ship’s former commander, Capt. Brett Crozier, wrote a letter pleading for permission to offload most of the ship’s crew. In the letter, Crozier warned that “sailors do not have to die.”

After the letter leaked in the media, Crozier was fired by then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly. Modly later resigned after he gave a speech on board the Roosevelt that berated Crozier as “naive” or “stupid.”

The Roosevelt’s coronavirus cases represent more than half of the Navy’s total of 950 among service members.

As of Tuesday, the Navy said 589 sailors from the Roosevelt have tested positive for the virus, out of 93 percent of the 4,800-person crew that has been tested.

The Navy has moved 4,024 sailors from the ship to shore in Guam, the service said Tuesday.