Two Naval Academy classmates of Crozier’s, who are close to him and his family, told The New York Times newspaper on Sunday that Crozier had received a positive COVID-19 test. According to the classmates, Crozier started showing symptoms before he was removed from command of the warship on Thursday.
On Saturday, US President Donald Trump said he supported the decision to remove US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt Captain Brett Crozier over the captain’s inappropriate email regarding the COVID-19 outbreak.
"Here we have one of the greatest ships in the world … with thousands and thousands of people and you had about 120 that were infected and I guess the captain stopped in Vietnam and people got off in Vietnam, perhaps you don’t do that in the middle of the pandemic", Trump said at the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing on Saturday.
He stressed that the captain could have called and made certain suggestions but it was inappropriate for him to send a letter and to stop in Vietnam, where sailors got off the ship and then ended up being infected.
US Congressmen Ted Lieu and Ruben Gallego on Friday wrote a letter to Defence Department Inspector General Glenn Fine urging him to open an investigation into the removal of Capt. Brett Crozier.
In total, 155 sailors on USS Theodore Roosevelt have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to the US Navy.
On Thursday, US Navy Acting Secretary Thomas Modly announced he had made the decision to remove Captain Brett Crozier because he improperly sent an email about his concerns regarding the COVID-19 outbreak on the ship using channels that were not secure to convey confidential information.
