Lessons from the Roosevelt: A Call for Improving the U. S. Navy’s Preparedness for Biological...

The evening sick call aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt unfolded on the night of March 23, 2020 in much the same way that it had for the past two weeks since the COVID-19 surveillance unit had arrived on board. In short, it had been largely uneventful. That changed when the night’s last batch of test results appeared on the laptop that the surveillance unit had brought with them. There, on the screen, were the unmistakable analytical curves of a positive COVID-19 result. It was just after 11:00 p.m. Recognizing the potential implications of a positive result and fearing a mistake had been made, the team lead for the surveillance unit insisted that the test be repeated, start to finish, a process that would take approximately two hours. As the results of the repeat test appeared on the laptop in the early morning hours of March 24, it was clear. There had not been a mistake. The novel coronavirus had snuck aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt as a microscopic stowaway. Although it wasn’t known at the time how many sailors were already infected, it was clear that keeping the outbreak contained on an aircraft carrier the size of a small city would be a challenge.