28k+ National Guard on COVID duty

ARLINGTON, Va. - The National Guard has more than 28,000 personnel currently on duty as part of COVID-19 response efforts. Those numbers are likely to increase, according to National Guard Bureau Chief, Air Force Gen. Joseph Lengyel. National Guardsmen are supporting COVID-19 testing sites, constructing and staffing alternate care facilities, assisting state agencies in testing analysis, medical care, communication capacities and delivering needed supplies and equipment. In Louisiana alone, Guard members have delivered more than 600,000 N95 masks, three million gloves, 300 ventilators and nearly 100,000 protective suits to testing sites; and working at food banks and have distributed more than 400,000 pounds of food. “Disasters are not new to us,” said Army Brig. Gen. Keith Waddell, adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard, “but like each disaster, this one is unique.” Many Guardsmen have taken on different roles for this disaster response. “We have traded missions (from) search and rescue .... for swabbing (11,000 symptomatic patients) at drive-through medical testing sites," and distributed protective equipment and ventilators, he said. The LNG has also had an impact at COVID-19 testing sites, specifically in Louisiana’s Orleans and Jefferson parishes, having “swabbed over 11,000 symptomatic citizens,” Waddell said.” Louisiana and New York are among the two states that have been most affected by COVID-19. (Source: National Guard Bureau 04/13/20) https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2147471/national-guard-chief-more-guard-members-to-be-called-up/ MISSISSIPPI NATIONAL GUARD: Some 25 members of the Mississippi National Guard’s (MSNG), 186th Air Refueling Wing (ARW) and the 47th Civil Support Team (CST) assisted with COVID-19 mobile testing unit April 1 in Meridian. The MSNG was able to test more than 100 patients a day. The Key Field-based 186th ARW can assist with anything from generator maintenance and repair, patient check in, traffic logistics, and administering the COVID-19 test to patients. The 47th CST is Mississippi’s full-time response team for emergencies that involve anything from weapons of mass destruction to toxic industrial chemicals. (Miss. Air National Guard 04/05/20)