When COVID-19 was first detected on guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd (DDG-100) late last month, the Navy put into action a new set of procedures to stem the spread of the virus.
The crew had departed Hawaii in late March after being detached from the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group while USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) was grappling with its own virus outbreak that left aircraft carrier pier-side in Guam.
Almost a month later, the first signs of an outbreak appeared when the destroyer was operating off the Pacific coast of South America. The crew hadn’t left the ship since their Hawaii port call, about a month prior to when the first sailor showed symptoms of an “influenza-like illness” or ILI on April 22. That day, the sailor was evacuated off the ship to a military hospital in San Antonio, Texas, and on April 23 the sailor tested positive for COVID-19. That positive test started a process the Navy has cobbled together over the last two months to purge the virus from deployed ships.
