New York National Guard Operational Update for April 7

LATHAM, NY (04/07/2020) (readMedia)-- On Tuesday, April 7, the New York National Guard has 2,910 personnel on mission across the state.

This includes 2,400 New York Army National Guard Soldiers and 360 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 coordinating the reception of additional military medical staff, many of whom will initially serve in New York City hospitals. Expansion of the Jacob Javits Center alternative facility to care for COVID-19 patients continues.

U.S. Army Soldiers of the 531st and 9th Hospital Centers, both part of the 44th Medical Brigade, are providing staffing at the site.

An additional 650 medical personnel from the Department of Defense arrived in New York City since the weekend and more are expected today.

New York National Guard members continue to manage the site and its conversion to COVID-10 care as the unified command post for the multi-agency response at the Javits Center and are supporting logistical operations at the site.

The New York National Guard continues support at nine drive-thru testing sites. Yesterday, they supported 5,647 tests for the community.

Sites are located at SUNY Stony Brook, Jones Beach State Park, Staten Island, and 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 and the SUNY Albany campus. 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, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Manhattan in New York City. Similar missions continue in Westchester County in New Rochelle and Albany County.

New York Soldiers and Airmen are also conducting logistics missions, including warehousing and commodity distribution of medical supplies at sites in the Hudson Valley, the Albany area, and Mohawk Valley. These missions have included delivery of ventilators from New York State Department of Health stockpiles to hospitals in need.

Hand sanitizer warehousing and deliveries continue today across the lower Hudson Valley. More than 30,000 gallons of hand sanitizer has been delivered by National Guard personnel to local governments.

The New York 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.

The National Guard Soldiers are joined by 42 Soldiers assigned to the Army's 54th Quartermaster Company, now providing staff assistance to the NYC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The unit is one of two active Mortuary Affairs units in the U.S. military and deploys as part of the Dual Status Command force. The company is based at Fort Lee, Va.

New York National Guard also continues to provide support to the New York State Coronavirus Hotline by working call centers in Rotterdam, Schenectady and Brooklyn to offer updated information to the public. Soldiers are speaking with more than 5,000 callers on average a day.

Soldiers continue packaging COVID-19 test kits for the New York State Department of Health at the Wadsworth Laboratory in Albany. They assemble about 11,000 kits per day for distribution across the state.

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.