New York National Guard Daily Update for March 27

LATHAM, NY (03/27/2020) (readMedia)-- As of 0800 on Friday, March 27, the New York National Guard has more than 2,200 personnel on mission across the state. This includes members of the New York Army and Air National Guard, the New York Guard (State Defense Force), and the New York Naval Militia.

Six Joint Task Forces are operating on Long Island, New York City, the Hudson Valley, Capital Region, Syracuse and Buffalo to support state and local governments.

In New York City New York National Guard, personnel are supporting the administration and reception of FEMA field hospitals in support of the State Department of Health and New York City officials at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan.

Soldiers are assisting with the reception and inventory of the infrastructure and setup in the convention center's 1.8-million-square feet of space.

A New York National Guard mayor's cell and other Soldiers will be supporting the 320 federal staff arriving to operate the site.

Brigadier General Michel Natali, the New York National Guard's Assistant Adjutant General, Army, has been designated dual status commander for New York. This allows him to command both National Guard and active duty forces operating in the state.

As a safety precaution the 700 Soldiers and Airmen assigned to Joint Task Force Empire Shield, the New York National Guard security augmentation force, which operates at New York City transportation hubs, will begin wearing N95 masks.

The New York National Guard continues to support six drive-thru testing sites. Sites are located at SUNY Stoneybrook, Jones Beach State Park, Staten Island, Glen Island State Park in Westchester County, the Anthony Wayne Service area in Rockland County, and Lehman College in the Bronx. An additional site is being established at Coop City- Bay Plaza Mall in the Bronx and the New York National Guard will assist in staffing that location with Soldiers and medical personnel.

New York National Guard personnel are continuing to support food packaging and distribution in New Rochelle and are conducting similar missions at locations in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island.

Also in New Rochelle, Soldiers continue to support the city's cleaning of public spaces. On March 27, they are expected to clean the New Rochelle Library and Thornton Donovan Elementary School.

New York Soldiers and Airmen are also conducting logistics missions in support of the state response, including warehousing support and bulk distribution at sites in the Hudson Valley, the Albany area, and the Mohawk Valley.

Hand sanitizer warehousing and deliveries continue today across the lower Hudson Valley. Support to local agencies for food distribution continues in Westchester County and New York City at nine locations.

New York National Guard also continues to provide support to the New York State Coronavirus Hotline by working in a call center in Rotterdam, N.Y. to offering updated information to the public. Other Soldiers support a call center mission in Brooklyn in New York City.

Soldiers are on call assist Department of Health officials at the Wadsworth Laboratory in Albany in packaging COVID 19 test kits.

New York National Guard images continue to go up on DVIDS: https://www.dvidshub.net/unit/NYNG, and https://www.dvidshub.net/unit/106RW and our NY National Guard Flickr site, https://www.flickr.com/photos/nyng.