The U.S. Navy confirms its plans to quarantine thousands of sailors from the USS Theodore Roosevelt at Tumon hotels. The plan, made in coordination with the Governor's Office, is meant to hold-off the growing spread of COVID-19 among the crew.

It was a sobering letter for help by commanding officer Captain Brett Crozier that highlighted the Carrier Roosevelt's plight. Crozier urged the evacuation of the ship writingwhile they are willing to take certain risks in combat, "We are not at war, and therefore cannot allow a single sailor to perish as a result of this pandemic unnecessarily."

U.S. Pacific Fleet commander Admiral John Aquilino held a news briefing in response. "I think his disagreement is, or his concern is associated with the pace that we get sailors off, not that we're not going to get sailors off. I just want to be very clear that we will have to leave sailors, some number of sailors on that ship as we go through testing, quarantine and isolation."

Crozier warned that the onboard environment itself was conducive to the spread of the virus, and so Admiral Aquilino says they've devised a flow plan for systematic evacuation.

"That rotational process, to take them off, ensure they're isolated and quarantined, through 14 days restricted movement, a follow on test, that is the best way as I understand it, the most accurate way, to validate that a sailor does not have the disease," he said.

The plan includes moving sailors with negative tests to isolation at Tumon hotels.

"We are utilizing those assets that we have, while at the same time we are working towards providing better capability, specifically working through the governor of Guam that could potentially identify some hotels that could meet the need," he said.

The Navy has yet to confirm how many sailors have tested positive, though Admiral Aquilino says none have been hospitalized. He also mentioned several times during the briefing that the ship would keep on board enough personnel to remain operational, and also repeated a word of caution apparently aimed at any would be-aggressors against the United States, that this warship will be ready.

"If that ship needed to respond to a crisis today, we would respond," he said.