The Navy plans to launch a medical investigation Monday to study the spread of COVID-19 onboard the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt in an effort to better understand how to stifle future outbreaks, officials said Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Navy medicine is expected to test approximately 1,000 volunteers from TR using nasal swabs, blood samples, and questionnaires, according to Navy Surgeon General Rear Adm. Bruce Gillingham. The samples will then be transported to CDC headquarters in Atlanta to be analyzed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officials said the investigation, which is separate from the service\u2019s inquiry into the dismissal of the ship\u2019s previous commanding officer, Capt. Brett Crozier, is expected to last approximately one month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While these trials will be more advanced than previously administered diagnostic tests \u2014 blood samples are not used for a diagnosis \u2014 they are not designed to determine the exact source of the virus onboard TR, Gillingham said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The obscured picture of where the virus first boarded the vessel clarified slightly when one Navy official, speaking on background, told Navy Times that incoming crews performing routine supply flight operations were the likely culprits \u2014 not a port call in Da Nang, Vietnam, as previously believed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This theory, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, was developed after learning that the first sailors to exhibit symptoms did so more than 2 weeks after the ship departed Vietnam, a span in excess of the virus\u2019 incubation period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regardless of patient zero\u2019s itinerary prior to boarding the carrier, the virus spread exponentially as soon as it was introduced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBecause of the pre-symptomatic transmission, we believe that it probably passed through the ship quite freely and that it was initially unrecognized,\u201d Gillingham said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, the Navy and CDC hope to learn as much as possible by cross referencing new data gathered from upcoming tests and questionnaires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe nasal swab will undergo a diagnostic test for COVID-19, the blood sample will undergo a new test that identifies COVID-19 antibodies in the blood,\u201d Gillingham told reporters Friday. \u201cThis type of testing is called a serology test.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe serologic test … determines basically whether or not an infection previously occurred,\u201d added Dr. Dan Payne, epidemiologist at the CDC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo, this will detect antibodies that your body produces to counter that virus during the infection. … And so, we find the serologic testing to be very important because we can actually identify who did mount an immune response.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Payne said that although the serologic test can reveal a previous infection, \u201cit\u2019s not necessarily an indicator of immunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Testing of Theodore Roosevelt volunteers is expected to take approximately one week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The remaining crew onboard the ship, meanwhile, which has been conducting ongoing deep-cleaning, is expected to disembark and receive diagnostic tests once cleaning procedures conclude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The carrier has been in port in Guam since March 27. As of Friday, 660 Theodore Roosevelt sailors have contracted COVID-19, Navy officials said. Nearly 85 percent of the ship\u2019s crew have been evacuated and moved ashore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n