A total of seven sailors aboard the hospital ship USNS Mercy have contracted COVID-19 and been removed from the ship as the remaining crew scrambles to stifle a full-blown outbreak.
Navy officials would not specify where the sailors have been moved, but confirmed the crew members in close proximity to the infected sailors have since tested negative.
Treatment of patients onboard Mercy, which arrived in Los Angeles on March 27, will continue as planned, officials said.
The surge in confirmed cases, meanwhile, has increased concern among sailors and family members who were already skeptical about the crew’s screening process prior to embarking on Mercy or Comfort, the second of the Navy’s two mobilized hospital ships which is currently treating patients in the New York City harbor.
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