Steve Limtiaco and Jasmine Stole Weiss

Pacific Daily News USA TODAY NETWORK

Sailors from the virus-stricken aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt will be quarantined off-base, in Guam hotels, as soon as possible, according to the governor and the military, but only those who have tested negative for the coronavirus.

Military personnel already stationed on Guam would act as a buffer between the quarantined sailors and civilians.

Not all would be placed in hotels, with some remaining on base, according to the military.

Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero on Wednesday said she agrees with the plan.

“We can protect Guam while being humane to them,” she said. “That is the Guam I know, and we will not abandon who we are out of fear. We have an interest in protecting the community and stopping the spread of COVID-19 just as much as the military has an obligation to return the USS Roosevelt to the open ocean to protect Guam and the region."

Spread of disease 'ongoing and accelerating'

The move comes after Navy Capt. Brett Crozier wrote the Navy Monday, asking to evacuate and isolate most of his crew to prevent deaths from the coronavirus. Three sailors on the ship tested positive for COVID-19 and the number grew to more than 36, according to national media reports.

In his letter to the Navy, Crozier wrote that "the spread of the disease is ongoing and accelerating" aboard the ship.

The carrier has been docked on Guam since Friday. U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. John Aquilino said during a teleconference Wednesday morning that the average sailor on Navy aircraft carriers is in their early 20s. None of the Roosevelt’s sailors are hospitalized, nor are they on ventilators nor are any in critical condition, Aquilino said. No sailors are in the intensive care unit, he added.

Admiral:We're working with Guam governor to identify hotels for sailors

Crozier’s four-page letter, first obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle, states sailors on board are currently unable to comply with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to keep them safe because of the ship's close quarters. Crozier asked to keep 10% of the crew aboard and to move 90% ashore to be isolated. “We are not at war, and therefore cannot allow a single sailor to perish as a result of this pandemic unnecessarily,” he wrote.

Removing people from the ship

The ship’s crew has been restricted to the pier since docking at Naval Base Guam. The Theodore Roosevelt is a Nimitz Class aircraft carrier which can accommodate a crew as large as 6,000, according to a Navy fact sheet.

Aquilino said the military is working to remove an appropriate number of people from the ship, who will be tested, quarantined and isolated while some remain on the ship to run it.

“Once those sailors are quarantined, isolated and re-tested, when they are COVID-free, the plan will be to rotate them back onto the ship and finish the remainder on the ship,” Aquilino said. “There’s never been an intent to take all the sailors off of that ship. If that ship needed to respond to a crisis today, we would respond.”

Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly has said that all of the 5,000-plus onboard would be tested for COVID-19 and that last week the ship had about 800 testing kits. More would be sent, Modly has said.

More:Third COVID-19 death; 5 GMH workers tested positive

'Our beaches are off-limits'

Virus-related travel restrictions have put Guam’s visitor industry on hold, leaving the island’s resort hotels vacant. Some hotels already are being used for local quarantine efforts, however.

“I did not make this decision lightly,” Gov. Leon Guerrero said, adding the military must meet other conditions for the 14-day quarantines, including daily medical checkups of all sailors, with military security on every hotel floor and at all entry points.

“Our beaches are off-limits and (personal protective equipment) will be provided by the military to any hotel worker who is a part of this operation,” she said.

“I know there will a small chorus of cynics who will oppose the position, but now is not the time for us-verus-them,” the governor said, noting some of the carrier’s crew are from Guam. “They sat at King’s (restaurant) with friends on Friday night. They graduated from places like Simon Sanchez and George Washington.”

Hotels not yet determined

Rear Adm. John Menoni, commander of Joint Region Marianas, said the plan is to remove as many people as possible from the ship, with the understanding some must remain aboard to stand watch and keep it operating.

Sailors will be brought to Tumon in “manageable groups,” transported and controlled by the military, he said. It has not yet been determined which hotel or hotels would be used by the military. The governor said the military is working with GovGuam and the Guam Hotel and Restaurant Association to determine the need and the capacity.

“That doesn’t mean that all of those people will be brought out into hotels within the local community,” Menoni said. “We’ll work with government of Guam, the Hotel and Restaurant Association and then within our fence lines to appropriately house all of those sailors within CDC guidelines.”

He said the goal is to have no more than two sailors per hotel room, but it depends on ongoing discussions with GHRA with regard to room configuration.

“We’d like to start this as soon as we can,” he said. “However, we’re not going to start it without a good process and procedures in place to protect the people of Guam,” and ensure it is a “no-fail” system.

'Lack of transparency': Concerns over USS Theodore Roosevelt sailors on Guam