- After reporting 50 contaminations, the Ministry of the Armed Forces indicated that 668 sailors were positive for Covid-19.
- The origin of the contamination has not been determined but seems to go back to a stopover in Brest in mid-March.
- The sailors criticize the management of the crisis and accuse the army of "playing with [their] lives".
Contaminations and a lot of questions. More than a third of the sailors of the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle have tested positive for the coronavirus since his early return to France on Sunday, according to a provisional assessment published on Wednesday which should increase. And if the Ministry of the Armed Forces defends its management, critics mount among sailors, especially after a stopover in Brest a month ago and then on the instructions on board after the discovery of the first contamination.
On the evening of April 13, all the elements of the carrier strike group joined their bases.
▶ ️ Suspected epidemic of # Covid19 on board motivated @florence_parly's immediate decision to anticipate his return when he had already achieved his operational objectives.
➕ info ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/KhB3Muek98
“On the evening of April 14, 1,767 sailors from the carrier strike group were tested. The vast majority of these tests concern sailors of the aircraft carrier at this stage. 668 have been positive, "said the Ministry of the Armed Forces in a statement. Among them, "31 are now hospitalized at the Sainte-Anne army training hospital in Toulon (south), including one in intensive care," he said.
This temporary assessment is set to swell further because "30% of these tests have not yet delivered their results" and "the test campaign is still in progress", according to the ministry. The Charles de Gaulle is the second officially contaminated aircraft carrier in the world, after the American aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, in the Pacific.
Sailors placed in isolation
The French nuclear vessel (1,750 sailors) and the air defense frigate that accompanied it (200 sailors) joined the port of Toulon on Sunday two weeks early, after the initial discovery of around fifty cases of coronavirus. The sailors were placed in solitary confinement for 14 days before being able to return to their homes.
In parallel, "the disinfection operations of aircraft and surface buildings have started", carried out by the armies in collaboration with industrialists, underlines the ministry. Minister Florence Parly "sends a message of support to confined seafarers and their families and thanks all local elected officials for their involvement".
The origin of the contamination of the aircraft carrier is not yet known. The crew had not been in contact with an outside element since a stopover in Brest, in the west of France, from March 13 to 15. The sailors had been able to descend to shore, but respecting the barrier gestures and the ban on gatherings of more than 100 people in force at the time. According to the testimony of a sailor gathered by Médiapart, "some went out not to see their loved ones, but to go to clubs or bars". At the same time, a succession of fifty people embarked during this stopover, a source close to the file. Médiapart claims to have identified two cases of sailors presenting symptoms without being confined.
"Command investigation"
France Bleu for its part published the testimony of a crew member, father, tested positive. "The army has played with our health, our life," he said, assuring that the commander of the aircraft carrier would have proposed to interrupt the mission in Brest, when several sailors he said were already showing symptoms of coronavirus. Still according to this anonymous sailor, this proposal was refused by the ministry.
The military said last week that no "error of assessment" had been found. The chief of staff of the French Navy, Admiral Christophe Prazuck, has now "ordered a command investigation in order to learn all the lessons of managing the epidemic within the carrier strike group," according to the ministry.
The French carrier strike group had been on a mission since January 21 and had spent several weeks in the Mediterranean as part of Operation Chammal, the French component of the international anti-jihadist operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria. He then crossed into the North Sea and the Atlantic for security and defense operations for European maritime approaches.
Society
Coronavirus on board the Charles-de-Gaulle: How will the disinfection of the aircraft carrier in Toulon take place?
Society
Coronavirus: Questions posed by the potential Covid-19 epidemic on the aircraft carrier "Charles de Gaulle"
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