9 In April 2020, the Naval Hospital Jacksonville deployed a special diagnostic unit to the guided missile destroyer USS Kidd (DDG-100), then in the throes of a shipboard outbreak. The team comprised of two medical officers and five corpsmen was referred to as the “Rapid Response Team,” and for good reason. Within a mere three hours this team was both conceived, assembled and deployed on a mission to conduct COVID-19 diagnostic testing at sea. To date it is the only deployment of this type of platform in the history of the Navy.
A Call to Assistance:
On the morning of April 23, 2020, Comdr. Michael Kaplan was starting his day as the Director of Medical Services at Naval Hospital Jacksonville when his commanding officer, Capt. Matthew Case, alerted him of an outbreak aboard USS Kidd, then conducting counter-narcotic operations with the 4th Fleet.