HONOLULU — People in Guam are used to a constant U.S. military presence, but some are nervous as hundreds of sailors from a coronavirus-stricken Navy aircraft carrier flood into hotels for quarantine. Officials insist they enforced strict safety measures.
An outbreak aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which claimed the life of a member of the crew who died Monday of complications related to COVID-19, began in late March and thrust the Navy into a leadership crisis after the ship’s commander was fired after he distributed a letter urging faster action to protect his sailors. Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly fired then assailed Capt. Brett E. Crozier during a speech on the ship in Guam, saying Crozier was either “too naive or too stupid” to be in charge of an aircraft carrier. Modly resigned last week after facing blowback and after publicly apologizing for his comments.
The carrier has been docked in Guam for more than a week as the 4,865-person crew is tested for the virus and moved ashore. Nearly 600 sailors have been confirmed infected.
More than 1,700 sailors who tested negative are isolating in hotels, while the sick remain on base, Navy officials said.
“Our people are getting slapped in the face,” said Hope Cristobal, who worries officials are making promises about safety they won’t keep.
She lives less than a quarter-mile from hotels in Tumon, saying, “We don’t know exactly where they’re being housed.”
Mary Rhodes, president of the Guam Hotel and Restaurant Association, declined to identify the hotels but said as many as 10 were set aside to house up to 4,000 sailors. Seven of them already stopped taking reservations and have seen a dramatic drop in visitors, she said.
Each sailor is staying in a room stocked with two weeks’ worth of linens, towels and water, Rhodes said. There is no contact with hotel workers, and only military police and medical teams can visit.
The Navy sent masks, gloves and other safety equipment to the hotels, where employees make food that military personnel deliver, Rhodes said.
Not including the sailors, Guam has 133 confirmed coronavirus cases and had five deaths as of Saturday. Officials are focused on stopping the spread of the virus, said Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero as she announced sailors could stay in hotels.
“I know there will be a small chorus of cynics who will oppose this decision, but now is not the time for ‘us versus them,’” she told reporters April 1. “We can protect Guam while being humane to them.”