668, next door neighbor of the beast!
668, next door neighbor of the beast!
The press release from the Ministry of the Armies fell shortly before 8 p.m. Aboard the Carrier Strike Group (GAN), which is docked at its port of Toulon on Sunday, the number of sailors affected by the coronavirus is much greater than assumed. While Charles de Gaulle officially counted only 50 cases last Friday, tests carried out at the beginning of the week revealed that 668 sailors are contaminated. By Tuesday evening, 1,767 soldiers had been tested on the approximately 1,900 that embarked the GAN (1,700 for the aircraft carrier and 200 for the ships that accompany it) and the result of 30% of the tests was not yet known.
A "command investigation" was launched by the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Christophe Prazuck, to "learn all the lessons of managing the epidemic on board the carrier strike group". It's about understanding how the crew got infected and how the epidemic then spread on board. The first cases appeared at the beginning of April on the Charles de Gaulle, which had made a last stopover in Brest from March 13 to 16. The contamination may have occurred at that time, during a shore excursion by a handful of sailors, but the staff did not rule out other tracks. Staff also boarded the ship during this period. Anyway, then, Charles de Gaulle no longer had any contact with the outside.
Rapid increase in cases.
A first sign could have given the alert. The escort of the aircraft carrier has a Belgian frigate, the Léopold 1er, which made the same stopover in Brest as the Charles de Gaulle. However, on March 20, a case of Covid-19 was detected on board and Brussels ordered the return of the vessel. Informed, the GAN command continued its mission.
The first minor symptoms did not alarm the Charles de Gaulle. In a population in good physical health, as the military are, the coronavirus is easily assimilated to a seasonal virus. The building is also located in the North Atlantic Ocean. On the bridge beaten by gusts of wind, it can be down to -5 ° C. A cold spell, a cough, is nothing exceptional. A first suspect case nevertheless prompts the medical service to send a lung scanfor onshore expertise. But the result turns out to be negative and excludes a coronavirus infection. It is then necessary to wait a few days, between April 4 and 5, for the number of suspect patients to suddenly increase. Two new lung scans are again sent to HIAs on the continent for analysis. The Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly and the Chief of the Naval Staff then decided to ask the GAN to turn around. 66 tests are carried out on board and 50 cases detected.
No case was detected on the other buildings accompanying the aircraft carrier. The crew of the defense frigate Chevalier Paul must, however, also remain confined for 14 days in Toulon. As for the anti-submarine frigate Lamotte-Picquet, which docked in Brest, an epidemiological investigation turned out to be negative: the crew was authorized to respect confinement at home. With regard to the Somme command building, around sixty sailors were placed "as a precaution" in strict confinement in a military enclosure while a hundred others were able to reach his home for 14 days.
At the Ministry of the Armed Forces, the situation is being followed closely and with a concern for transparency in the measurement of known data, we promise. Minister Florence Parly sent "a message of support to confined sailors and their families". For them, the return to shore is "gloomy", they say within the navy.
The press release from the Ministry of the Armies fell shortly before 8 p.m. Aboard the Carrier Strike Group (GAN), which is docked at its port of Toulon on Sunday, the number of sailors affected by the coronavirus is much greater than assumed. While Charles de Gaulle officially counted only 50 cases last Friday, tests carried out at the beginning of the week revealed that 668 sailors are contaminated. By Tuesday evening, 1,767 soldiers had been tested on the approximately 1,900 that embarked the GAN (1,700 for the aircraft carrier and 200 for the ships that accompany it) and the result of 30% of the tests was not yet known.
A "command investigation" was launched by the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Christophe Prazuck, to "learn all the lessons of managing the epidemic on board the carrier strike group". It's about understanding how the crew got infected and how the epidemic then spread on board. The first cases appeared at the beginning of April on the Charles de Gaulle, which had made a last stopover in Brest from March 13 to 16. The contamination may have occurred at that time, during a shore excursion by a handful of sailors, but the staff did not rule out other tracks. Staff also boarded the ship during this period. Anyway, then, Charles de Gaulle no longer had any contact with the outside.
**Rapid increase in cases.**
A first sign could have given the alert. The escort of the aircraft carrier has a Belgian frigate, the Léopold 1er, which made the same stopover in Brest as the Charles de Gaulle. However, on March 20, a case of Covid-19 was detected on board and Brussels ordered the return of the vessel. Informed, the GAN command continued its mission.
The first minor symptoms did not alarm the Charles de Gaulle. In a population in good physical health, as the military are, the coronavirus is easily assimilated to a seasonal virus. The building is also located in the North Atlantic Ocean. On the bridge beaten by gusts of wind, it can be down to -5 ° C. A cold spell, a cough, is nothing exceptional. A first suspect case nevertheless prompts the medical service to send a lung scanfor onshore expertise. But the result turns out to be negative and excludes a coronavirus infection. It is then necessary to wait a few days, between April 4 and 5, for the number of suspect patients to suddenly increase. Two new lung scans are again sent to HIAs on the continent for analysis. The Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly and the Chief of the Naval Staff then decided to ask the GAN to turn around. 66 tests are carried out on board and 50 cases detected.
No case was detected on the other buildings accompanying the aircraft carrier. The crew of the defense frigate Chevalier Paul must, however, also remain confined for 14 days in Toulon. As for the anti-submarine frigate Lamotte-Picquet, which docked in Brest, an epidemiological investigation turned out to be negative: the crew was authorized to respect confinement at home. With regard to the Somme command building, around sixty sailors were placed "as a precaution" in strict confinement in a military enclosure while a hundred others were able to reach his home for 14 days.
At the Ministry of the Armed Forces, the situation is being followed closely and with a concern for transparency in the measurement of known data, we promise. Minister Florence Parly sent "a message of support to confined sailors and their families". For them, the return to shore is "gloomy", they say within the navy.
https://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/france-un-tiers-des-marins-du-porte-avions-charles-de-gaulle-positifs-au-coronavirus-20200415
(post is archived)