New York National Guard Operational Update for COVID-19 response for July 24, 2020

LATHAM, NY (07/24/2020) (readMedia)-- On Friday, July 24 the New York National Guard has 1,988 personnel on the COVID-19 response mission across New York.

This includes 1,651 New York Army National Guard Soldiers and 204 New York Air National Guard Airmen. 133 members of the New York Guard (the State Defense Force) and New York Naval Militia are also mobilized for the mission in State Active Duty status.

Two task force headquarters provide command and control of COVID-19 operations across the state.

Joint Task Force North is based in Syracuse and oversees missions in upstate New York. Joint Task Force South is headquartered in Manhattan and oversees missions on Long island, New York City and lower Hudson Valley.

The New York National Guard continues to coordinate with city and state officials for the readiness of the Javits Convention Center and conducts warehousing operations there.

Guard troops also continue to support access control at three potential alternate care sites on Long Island or Westchester that remain in a cold status.

The National Guard continues to support 15 drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites with administrative and logistical support, medical support at some sites and mask fit testing services. National Guard members assisted with 3,605 tests on July 22 and have supported tests for 414,634 since the response began.

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;

• Linden Blvd., Brooklyn;

• SUNY Albany;

• Niagara County Community College in Sandborn, N.Y.;

• The Buffalo Sabres KeyBank Center parking lot in Buffalo;

• SUNY Binghamton;

• Griffiss International Airport, Rome;

and Monroe County Community College in Rochester.

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

The New York National Guard's 24th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team is currently conducting COVID-19 testing at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Brooklyn for staff and patients.

New York National Guard personnel continue food packaging and distribution in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Manhattan in New York City. Soldiers and Airmen distributed 388,557 meals July 22 for a total of 47,472,364 meals.

Similar food distribution missions continue in Westchester County with 216,320 meals distributed since the mission began.

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

Hand sanitizer delivery to local governments is ongoing. A total of 107,702 gallons of sanitizer have been distributed in the lower Hudson Valley since the start of the mission.

Soldiers and Airmen continue packaging COVID-19 test kits for the New York State Department of Health at the Wadsworth Laboratory in Albany. Service members assembled a total of 2,650,824 test kits.

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.