More than 1,000 French navy sailors on France’s largest carrier—nearly half of those onboard—have tested positive for coronavirus so far, ...
More than 1,000 French navy sailors on France’s largest carrier—nearly half of those onboard—have tested positive for coronavirus so far, mirroring a similar cluster last month on American vessel the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
KEY FACTS
French Defense Minister Florence Parly told lawmakers that 1,081 of the 2,300 people aboard the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier—the flagship of the French navy and the country’s largest ship—have tested positive for coronavirus so far during parliamentary hearings about the infections Friday.
While social distancing measures were put into place on board the Charles de Gaulle and its several support vessels, there was a lack of testing equipment and masks that made stopping the spread of the virus tough, a spokesperson for the navy said.
One person who was infected onboard remains in intensive care and about 20 others were hospitalized.
Nearly every person on board has been tested, The New York Times reported, but the French navy is still waiting on nearly 1,000 more test results.
The ship is being subjected to a lengthy disinfection process from top to bottom at its homebase in Toulon, a port city in the south of France, where it anchored on April 12—a spokesperson said the French navy hopes to get the ship operational and back to sea in May.
The case echoes that of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, another military aircraft carrier that was the home to a coronavirus cluster while out at sea last month.
KEY BACKGROUND
France is among the countries hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, with nearly 150,000 total cases and nearly 19,000 fatalities reported on Friday afternoon by Johns Hopkins University. The coronavirus cluster onboard the Charles de Gaulle has drawn comparisons to the outbreak on the USS Theodore Roosevelt that led to the acting Navy secretary’s resignation after he called Brett Crozier, the captain of the ship, “stupid” and removed him from command. Crozier had been relieved from command of the ship after he wrote a letter expressing his dismay at the Navy’s handling of the coronavirus situation aboard the ship that went on to be obtained and published by The San Francisco Chronicle. In an unprecedented move, the Navy this week announced they were looking into having Crozier reinstated. A Navy sailor who served aboard the Roosevelt died from coronavirus complications Monday.
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