New York National Guard Operational Update April 13, 2020

LATHAM, NY (04/13/2020) (readMedia)-- On Monday, April 13, the New York National Guard has 3,531personnel on mission across the state.

This includes approximately 2,950 New York Army National Guard Soldiers and 430 Air National Guard Airmen along with members of the New York Guard (State Defense Force), and 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. A Dual Status Command Task Force under the command of Brig. Gen. Michel Natali, the Assistant Adjutant General, Army, leads efforts to employ active and National Guard military resources in New York City.

The Dual Status Command is supporting the 1,400 military and civilian medical staff working at Javits Convention Center and in New York City hospitals. U.S. Army Soldiers of the 531st and 9th Hospital Centers, both part of the 44th Medical Brigade, are providing staffing at the Javits New York Medical Site. Additional medical staff from the U.S. Army Reserve, the Navy Reserve, the Air Force and the Civilian Medical Reserve Corps are also on duty.

New York National Guard members continue to manage the Javits site as the unified command post for the multi-agency response.

New York Air National Guard Pararescue Airmen, who are trained as emergency medical technicians, from New York's 106th Rescue Wing, are also assisting in city hospitals.

The New York National Guard is supporting the alternate care facility at the South Beach Psychiatric Center on Staten Island as well.

The New York National Guard is supporting 10 drive-thru testing sites. More than 5,800 tests were conducted on April 12. Bad weather conditions today, with very high winds, are expected to require sites to shut down.

Sites are located at:

• SUNY Stony Brook;

• Jones Beach State Park; Staten Island;

• Glen Island State Park in Westchester Count;

• Anthony Wayne Service area in Rockland County;

• Lehman College and the Bay Plaza Mall in the Bronx;

• Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens,

• Flatbush in Brooklyn;

And the SUNY Albany campus in Albany.

Soldiers and Airmen are collecting samples and providing general-purpose support at the testing locations. Since the first test site was set up in Westchester County 100,000 people have visited these sites.

National Guard personnel continue food packaging and distribution today in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Manhattan in New York City. The Soldiers provided 105,186 meals on Saturday, April 12 and have distributed 819,917 meals. Soldiers have distributed 819,917 meals.

Similar missions resume in Westchester County in New Rochelle where 50,757 meal packages have been distributed and Albany County where 833 meals have been delivered to quarantined residents.

New York Soldiers and Airmen are also conducting logistics missions, including warehousing and commodity distribution of medical supplies at six sites in the Hudson Valley, the Albany area, and Mohawk Valley.

Since April 1, for example, Soldiers have delivered 31,420 N95 masks and another 360,000 surgical masks to hospitals across the state for a total of 391,420 masks.

Hand sanitizer warehousing and deliveries continue today to locations across the lower Hudson Valley. More than 33,148 gallons of hand sanitizer have been delivered to local governments.

The New York National Guard continues to provide support to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City. Soldiers and Airmen are working with members of the Medical Examiner's Office to assist in the dignified removal of human remains around the clock.

Soldiers assigned to the active Army's 54th Quartermaster Company are working with the National Guard members, providing staff assistance to the NYC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

The support mission expands today to assist the Westchester County Medical Examiner, as well.

New York National Guard members are still providing support to the New York State Coronavirus Hotline by working call centers in Rotterdam and Brooklyn to offer updated information to the public. Soldiers speak with an average of 3,300 callers each day and have provided response and support to more than 165,427 callers since the mission began March 11.

Soldiers continue packaging COVID-19 test kits for the New York State Department of Health at the Wadsworth Laboratory in Albany. They assembled more than 14,500 kits April 11 for distribution across the state, providing more than 101,100 since starting the mission.

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

The New York National Guard Public Affairs Officer is Col. Richard Goldenberg. He can be reached at Richard.l.goldenberg.mil@mail.mil or (518) 786-6150.