A sixth San Diego-based sailor has tested positive for the coronavirus, the Navy announced Friday.
The latest sailor tested positive Wednesday, but the Navy waited to announce the results. The sailor, assigned to Commander, Naval Air Forces at North Island, is currently isolated at home and restricted in movement in accordance with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
People the individual immediately identified having close contact with have been notified, placed in a restricted status at their residences and are being monitored, Navy officials said.
Military health professionals are conducting a contact investigation to determine whether any other personnel may have been in close contact and possibly exposed. The sailor’s work area has been cleaned and inspected by medical personnel. The Naval Air Forces has also implemented a telework policy where possible to further mitigate the risk of COVID-19.
The Navy announced Tuesday that it closed its Training Support Command center in San Diego after a third sailor with ties to the school tested presumptive positive for the novel coronavirus. Two students and an instructor at the school have tested presumptive positive for the illness in the past several days, according to the Navy.
The latest sailor with ties to the school to test positive is stationed aboard the USS Essex and had been attending a course at Naval Base San Diego since Feb. 6.
Two more sailors, one stationed on the USS Boxer, which is homeported in San Diego, and the other aboard the littoral combat ship Coronado based at Naval Base San Diego, also tested positive for COVID-19.
The schoolhouse where the training occurred will remain closed until further notice. Military health professionals are conducting a contact investigation to see if any additional precautionary measures need to be taken.
Three Marines at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar have also tested positive for the virus — one March 13, another on Saturday and the last one on Tuesday — leading to new health protections on the base.
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the county rose to 105 on Thursday and includes the region’s first case among a resident under the age of 20.
The 25 newly recorded cases is the highest day-to-day growth yet — with one involving a San Diego County resident between the ages of 10-19. There have been 13 hospitalizations attributed to the illness, but no deaths.
Of the 105 positive cases, 89 are residents of the county — 11 of them hospitalized; eight are under federal quarantine, with one of those patients hospitalized; and eight are non-residents, one of whom is hospitalized. The vast majority — 85 cases — of those who have tested positive have been under the age of 60.
–City News Service