Navy chief dies of COVID complications
Chief Quartermaster Herbert Rojas died Tuesday, Feb. 2, of COVID-related complications. (Navy)
A Navy chief and staff instructor at Recruit Training Command Great Lakes, Illinois, died Tuesday at his home due to COVID-19 complications, the second active-duty sailor to die this week after contracting the novel coronavirus.
Chief Quartermaster Herbert Rojas, 50, of Richmond Hill, New York, had been randomly tested recently and was “asymptomatic positive” at the time, according to Lt. Cmdr. Phil Chitty, a spokesman for Naval Service Training Command.
Chitty declined to say when Rojas was tested, but said it was part of “sentinel surveillance testing” for all Recruit Training Command staff members.