The National Guard has deployed 1,560 personnel across nearly half the country in a move meant to help besieged healthcare workers deal with the influx of coronavirus patients.
The Air and Army National Guard are working in 22 states, including some of those hardest-hit by the coronavirus: New York, New Jersey, and Colorado. The Guard has nearly quadrupled the 400 personnel the Pentagon said last Friday had been sent out. Since late last week, the number of confirmed cases in the United States has shot up to nearly 6,000 by Tuesday afternoon.
“This COVID-19 pandemic is a historic event, and it requires a historic response from the National Guard,” Air Force Gen. Joseph Lengyel, the National Guard chief who oversees 450,000 personnel, said in a statement. “My number one priority is taking care of our National Guard Soldiers, Airmen and their families. The readiness of our force will be critical to the success of this nation’s COVID-19 response efforts.”
More than 600 guardsmen were activated in New York, where nearly 1,000 cases have been reported, more than any other state, according to spokesman Col. Richard Goldenberg. The guard is setting up drive-thru testing facilities, cleaning public buildings, delivering meals near hard-hit New Rochelle, New York, and helping at the state’s call center.
Nearby in New Jersey, 150 soldiers and airmen are expected to be prescreened to perform active-duty jobs, including transporting people, doing traffic control, and performing security operations and engineering tasks, according to Lt. Col. Barbara Brown. Fifty guardsmen in Pennsylvania are already on active duty and helped transport cruise passengers from the Grand Princess ship who arrived in the state Tuesday to their homes following quarantine.
“One of the most important National Guard missions is to support our own communities,” Maj. Gen. Anthony Carrelli, adjutant general of Pennsylvania, said in a statement. “Assisting and serving our fellow neighbors is a very personal effort, as this is where we live. We are all in this together.”
In Colorado, some guardsmen are conducting tests on people at drive-up centers, according to spokeswoman Elena O’Bryan.
