26 US Navy ships reported confirmed Covid-19 cases onboard

There are 26 United States Navy warships currently who have reported positive coronavirus cases onboard. At the same time, 14 other ships were also hit by the deadly virus. Still, the crew members have who contracted the contagion have recovered; a senior Navy official told CNN on Wednesday.

The 26 ships with current cases are in port or maintenance yards, the official stressed.

The Navy isn't releasing the names of the individual ships impacted or the precise number of cases because the Department of Defense policy states that it'd risk operational security if the small print became public.

There are currently 90 ships at sea with no reported cases, and therefore the Navy now has 297 active duty warships.

As of Wednesday morning, 3,578 US service members have tested positive for the virus, including two deaths. Nearly 800 of these cases have come from the outbreak aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier where one sailor also died.

More than 4,000 sailors on the Roosevelt had been moved ashore and were scheduled to start returning to the ship this coming weekend after finishing a 14-day isolation period. Still, that process has been paused because 120 previously asymptomatic sailors tested positive.

As a result, the Navy has decided to stay all personnel already ashore in place until it can learn more about how the virus remains active in an asymptomatic person.

In a note to his forces obtained by CNN, Pacific Fleet commander, Admiral John Aquilino directed the halting of to keep of crew members from "isolation and quarantine" over concerns some may test positive after being released. He added that "that this can delay progress" towards "deploying units" and emphasized, "We must take this action to make sure we get underway with healthy crews."

The Roosevelt's commander Capt. Brett Crozier was fired earlier this month for what the then acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said was poor judgment for too widely disseminating a warning about the spread of virus aboard his vessel. This sign eventually made its way into the press.

Modly resigned days later over his handling of the incident, actions including a $240,000 trip to Guam where he slammed Crozier and admonished sailors for giving him a rousing send-off in public remarks to the crew.

Last week the Navy and also the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched an investigation into the outbreak aboard the Roosevelt.

That inquiry will look to determine the origin of the outbreak and understand how it spread rapidly onboard the ship.

The results of a separate Navy investigation into the circumstances of Crozier's memo is predicted soon, and it's possible he can be reinstated.

"This could be a stealthy virus in some ways, and this outbreak investigation is a crucial medical weapon to know its behaviour, so we can better protect the crew, their shipmates on other vessels and ultimately the state," Rear Adm. Bruce Gillingham, USN Surgeon General said on Friday.

To carry out the investigation, crew members are being asked voluntarily to finish a survey and provide two new specimens blood and nasal swabs for laboratory testing, according to the Navy. It hopes to get 1,000 volunteers which is what it believes is required for stratified sampling.