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CONTACT: Eric Durr, 518-786-4581, eric.d.durr.nfg@mail.mil
FOR RELEASE: Sunday, Apr 05, 2020

New York National Guard Operational Update for April 5, 2020

LATHAM, NY (04/05/2020) (readMedia)-- On Sunday, April 5, the New York National Guard has 2,885 personnel on mission across the state. This includes 2,398 New York Army National Guard Soldiers and 348 Air National Guard Airmen along with members of the New York Guard (StateDefense 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. An additional 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 expansion of the Jacob Javits Center FEMA field hospital to care for COVID 19 patients. The center expanded capacity to now accommodate some 2,500 beds and staff of the 531st and 9th Hospital Centers, both part of the 44th Medical Brigade, are providing care for patients at the site, providing relief for New York City hospitals. An additional 325 medical personnel from the Department of Defense arrive today for the staffing of the Javits expansion.

New York National Guard members continue to manage the site 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 seven drive-thru testing sites. 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. Soldiers and Airmen are collecting sample and providing general-purpose support at the testing locations, now exceeding 5,000 tests per day in total.

Two additional sites are expected to begin operations Monday and the New York National Guard will assist in staffing those sites. One site will be at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens. The second site will be established at the State University of New York at Albany campus. This is the first state operated COVID 19 testing site in upstate New York

National Guard personnel are continuing food packaging and distribution today in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan in New York City. Similar missions are expected to be conducted on Monday in Westchester County in New Rochelle and Albany County.

National Guard members have helped in the distribution of some 148,626 meals to New Yorkers.

New York Soldiers and Airmen are also conducting logistics missions in support of the state response, including warehousing and commodity distribution of medical supplies at sites in the Hudson Valley, the Albany area, and Mohawk Valley. Hand sanitizer warehousing and deliveries continue today across the lower Hudson Valley.

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.

This weekend also saw the arrival of 42 Soldiers assigned to the Army's 54th Quartermaster Company in New York City to provide 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 continue packaging COVID-19 test kits for the New York State Department of Health at the Wadsworth Laboratory in Albany. They have assembled 22,250 kits so far.

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.

© NYS DMNA Press Release:New York National Guard Operational Update for April 5, 2020
URL: https://dmna.ny.gov/pressroom/?id=1586116555
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Page Last Modified: Apr 05, 2020