US Navy Ship Disabled By Covid Breakthrough Infections Despite Crew Being 100 Percent Vaccinated

The good news is that the breakthrough infections appear to be mild, possibly omicron. But for those concerned about biological warfare, the implications are worrisome...JL 

Andrew deGandpre reports in the Washington Post:

A coronavirus outbreak aboard the USS Milwaukee, whose entire crew was “100 percent immunized,” has forced the ship to remain in port. Some of the personnel who tested positive for the virus have displayed mild symptoms, Meadows said. Officials have not determined whether the highly transmissible omicron variant — which has demonstrated an ability to evade coronavirus vaccines, leading to a surge in breakthrough infections — is responsible.

A coronavirus outbreak aboard the USS Milwaukee, whose entire crew was “100 percent immunized,” has forced the ship to remain in port after a scheduled stop in Cuba barely one week into its deployment, the Navy announced Friday.

An unspecified “portion” of the Milwaukee’s 105-person crew is now isolated on board the ship, according to Cmdr. Kate Meadows, a spokesperson for U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command. The Navy does not disclose infection counts “at the crew/unit level,” she said in an email.

Some of the personnel who tested positive for the virus have displayed mild symptoms, Meadows said. Officials have not determined whether the highly transmissible omicron variant — which has demonstrated an ability to evade coronavirus vaccines, leading to a surge in breakthrough infections — is responsible for the Milwaukee’s outbreak.

Vaccine holdouts in U.S. military approach 40,000 even as omicron variant fuels call for boosters

The Milwaukee deployed from its home station in Mayport, Fla., on Dec. 14. In a news release announcing the ship’s departure, the Navy said that apart from the ship’s crew, there is a detachment of Coast Guard law enforcement personnel on board, plus an aviation unit responsible for operating embarked helicopters and drones. It was not immediately clear whether the coronavirus outbreak had affected any of those passengers.

Navy officials said the Milwaukee’s deployment was expected to involve counternarcotics operations in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.

Photographs of the ship’s crew, distributed by the Navy over the past month, show that some personnel wear masks while others do not. Navy vessels, where personnel live in tight quarters while at sea, are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus. The U.S. military’s first major coronavirus outbreak happened last year aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, sidelining the ship for several weeks in Guam after more than 1,000 personnel tested positive.

U.S. military personnel are required to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, but tens of thousands of troops have resisted those orders. Across the Navy, about 9,000 sailors remained only partially vaccinated as of this week, according to data maintained by the Pentagon.