A sailor from the USS Roosevelt died of covid-19 0:57
(CNN Spanish) -
Dr. Elmer Huerta explains what happened on the US Navy's Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier in which a severe coronavirus outbreak was unleashed and that thanks to rapid action it could be contained.
You can listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform, or read the transcript below.
Hello, I am Dr. Elmer Huerta and this is your daily dose of information on the new coronavirus.
Information that we hope will be useful to take care of your health and that of your family.
Today we will see the details of a severe outbreak of covid-19 on an aircraft carrier of the US Navy.
As we described in the episodes of July 13, August 1 and September 22, it has been estimated that a person infected with the new coronavirus is capable of infecting between two and three people, and that this contagion is very efficient by way of respiratory, especially aerosols.
In that sense, covid-19 outbreaks have been demonstrated in restaurants, choirs, and Zumba classes.
Covid-19 outbreak on US Navy aircraft carriers
Now, in the Nov. 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, US researchers describe a severe outbreak that occurred on the US Navy's aircraft carrier Teodoro Roosevelt.
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According to the report, on day 13 of the aircraft carrier's trip, which was carrying a crew of 4,779 people, three sailors showed up to the infirmary with symptoms suggestive of a respiratory disease, suspected of being covid-19.
Immediately afterwards, the outbreak investigation began, with a few more positive cases being identified the next day in the more than 400 contacts of those first three cases.
Isolation and quarantine
Four days after the first case was found, the aircraft carrier touched down on the island of Guam and all the crew members were interviewed for signs and symptoms of Covid-19 and all underwent PCR molecular tests.
Those who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 were isolated and received controls for symptoms, temperature and pulse oximetry twice daily, and the 4,079 members who tested negative were quarantined in personal rooms at 11 hotels on Guam.
Giving an idea of the explosiveness of the outbreak, of the 4,779 crew members, 1,271 or 26.6%, tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 PCR molecular test.
Covid-19 infection statistics on US Navy aircraft carriers
The data analysis revealed that infections occurred equally among men, women, and ethnic and racial groups, interestingly, the cases were more frequent among sailors who worked indoors than outdoors.
At the beginning, 76.9% of the 1,271 confirmed cases had no symptoms, but in the following days, 55% of them developed some type of symptom.
In terms of symptoms, with 68%, headache was the most common symptom among confirmed cases, followed by cough with almost 60% and nasal congestion and alteration of the sense of taste or smell in just over 40%.
As for fever, only one in 20 had it at the beginning, and one in 10 developed it during the course of the disease.
Of the 1,273 positive cases, 23 were hospitalized, of which four were admitted to the intensive care unit, one of them dying from cardiovascular complications related to covid-19.
Among those hospitalized, the most frequent symptoms were cough, body aches and fever.
Swift action controlled coronavirus outbreak
In summary, this outbreak - which, because it occurred in a very young, confined or captive population, and which, thanks to the great organization and resources of the United States Navy, was perfectly well controlled - reveals that young people are not free. to suffer complications from the disease.
The fact that there has been one death makes us reflect on how contagious the disease is, and how many more could have died had the outbreak not been almost perfectly contained.
Do you have questions about the coronavirus?
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Thanks for your attention.
If you have any questions you can send them to Dr. Elmer Huerta via Twitter. You can also head over to CNNE.com/coronaviruspodcast for all episodes of our "Coronavirus: Reality vs. Reality" podcast. fiction".
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