New York National Guard Operational Update for April 21, 2020

LATHAM, NY (04/21/2020) (readMedia)-- On Tuesday, April 21, the New York National Guard has 3,626 personnel on mission across the state.

This includes 3,004 New York Army National Guard Soldiers and 460 Air National Guard Airmen. Members of the New York Guard (State Defense Force), and New York Naval Militia are also mobilized for the mission.

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 2,700 military and civilian medical staff working at Javits and in New York City hospitals. U.S. Army Soldiers of the 44th Medical Brigade are providing staffing at the Javits New York Medical Station. Additional medical staff from the U.S. Army Reserve, the Navy Reserve, the Air Force and the Civilian Medical Reserve Corps are also working at the alternative care site.

More than 1,026 patients have been treated at the Javits New York Medical Station.

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. Additional forces are providing support at three other potential alternate care sites on Long Island or Westchester.

The New York National Guard continues to support 10 drive-thru testing sites. A total of 5,798 appointments were conducted on April 19.

Sites are located at:

• SUNY Stony Brook;

• Jones Beach State Park;

• Staten Island adjacent the Staten Island University Hospital;

• Glen Island State Park in Westchester County;

• The Anthony Wayne Service area in Rockland County;

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

• Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, Brooklyn;

And at SUNY Albany in Albany.

Soldiers and Airmen are collecting samples and providing general-purpose support at the testing locations.

National Guard personnel continue food packaging and distribution today in the Bronx, Yonkers, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Manhattan in New York City, providing 89,660 meals on April 19. Soldiers have distributed 1,599,731 meals.

Similar missions resume today in Westchester County, where Guardsmen provided 68,890 meal packages and Albany County where 1,406 meals have been delivered to quarantined residents as of Friday, April 17.

A new food distribution begins today in Albany County. Soldiers will begin helping to process and ship goods at the regional food bank in Latham, N.Y. Other food support missions will begin this week in Montgomery and Chenango counties and Schenectady, N.Y.

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.

More than 2 million K95 masks were distributed to hospitals and other facilities across the New York City region on April 19.

Hand sanitizer delivery continues to three locations today, having provided 641 gallons on April 19 to six locations in the lower Hudson Valley and a total of 36,980 gallons to local governments.

The National Guard continues to provide logistics support to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City.

National Guard personnel are working with members of the Medical Examiner's Office to assist in the dignified removal of human remains when required. Soldiers assigned to the active Army's 54th Quartermaster Company are also providing staff assistance to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on New York City. Soldiers from a number of units are conducting this mission under the control of the 369th Sustainment Brigade.

The support mission also includes assistance to the Westchester County Medical Examiner and support and a similar mission is expected to begin in Orange County.

New York National Guard members concluded a mission to support the New York State Coronavirus Hotline by working at a call center in Rotterdam to offer updated information to the public. Soldiers spoke with an average of 3,300 callers each day and have provided response and support to more than 185,880 callers. The mission began on March 11 and ended on April 20.

Soldiers will continue to man phones at two New York City call centers, including one for the New York City Division of Veterans Services. New York National Guard Soldiers are also providing administrative support at two New York City 911 call centers.

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 31,000 kits April 19 for distribution across the state. The team has built 243,100 testing kits 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), 786-4581.