SAN DIEGO — About a dozen personnel assigned to the U.S. Navy's guided-missile destroyer Chafee, homeported in Hawaii but training in San Diego, tested positive for COVID-19 and were removed from the ship, Navy officials said.
"In order to ensure the health of the force and guarantee mission readiness, most of the crew members assigned to USS Chafee have been placed in a restriction-of-movement status in hotels in the local San Diego area," Cmdr. Sean Robertson, a Third Fleet spokesman, said Saturday.
A caretaker crew will remain aboard to support the ship's operational and material readiness, and execute necessary support functions, Robertson said. "The ship will be cleaned in accordance with U.S. Pacific Fleet and Navy guidance."
The ship has been in San Diego on a training mission.
No sailors from the crew have been hospitalized and all positives are in isolation, Robertson said. To reassure sailors and their families, the crew was tested Friday, Robertson said.
Individuals who were in close contact with those sailors are also off the ship and are in quarantine while they monitor for any symptoms.
