Photo By Maj. Patrick Cordova | Army Warrant Officer 1 Christopher Gallant, assigned to Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion,...... read more read more
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New York Army National Guard Warrant Officer Christopher Gallant has seen both sides of the fight against COVID-19. After surviving the disease, Gallant is back on duty at the Javits New York Medical Station, where more than 1,090 COVID-19 patients have been treated.
His story is typical of other Soldiers and Airmen who had a brush with the virus and are still on duty in the effort to contain it.
March 11 should have been a time to celebrate for Gallant as he had just graduated from Warrant Officer Candidate School, at Ft. Rucker, Alabama.
By March 16 however, he was in self-quarantine with COVID symptoms. With body aches, persistent headaches and a fever, Gallant, a full-time Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controller from Amity Harbor, Long Island, knew there was a possibility he had the disease.
“Overall the symptoms were very mild but they completely fit with COVID symptoms,” said Gallant who is assigned to the New York Army National Guard’s Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 142nd Aviation. “By Wednesday, March 18 I still had the same conditions and called my doctor to get tested.”
The same day he made that phone call, Gallant was able to get tested. The wait time for results was three days and, in the meantime, he remained in quarantine and treated his symptoms with over-the-counter medication, which he explained was a great help.
“By Thursday, March 19 I was about 90% better and Friday, March 20 was back to normal,” Gallant said, “well enough to work out that day and even run two to three miles.”
Gallant, who is waiting to attend Army Aviation Initial Entry Rotary Wing training in May to become a Black Hawk pilot, followed the Suffolk County Department of Health guidance on when he could return to work.
The control tower he works in as an air traffic controller remained closed after he and a colleague tested positive, but he was able to go back to his role as a volunteer firefighter with the Copiague Fire Department, driving an ambulance and riding on the firetruck.
“While in recovery, I had put in a request to volunteer for state active duty to help the COVID-19 response,” Gallant said, as throughout March, Governor Andrew Cuomo activated the New York National Guard in order to bolster the state’s response to the pandemic.
“Isolation and staying in quarantine isn’t fun, but imperative to stop the spread,” Gallant said. “I Had had a few friends who have gotten sick since and talking to them has really seemed to be helpful. Sometimes it isn’t just being sick but mind over matter, the anxiety tends to magnify symptoms you are feeling and having the reassurance of a friend makes things quite a bit better.”
Gallant explained he had to wait 14 days from the onset of symptoms to ensure it was safe for him to back to work, so he scheduled another test to show he was COVID-19 negative.
“Although my symptoms were nonexistent for over a week, I still got a positive result after 14 days since the onset of symptoms,” Gallant said.
After further coordination with Army doctors, he was able to go on duty as of April 4, being assigned as the safety officer at the medical center that was setup in the Javits Center in Manhattan. This medical center was established to take the strain off of New York City hospitals, featuring a capacity of several hundred beds.
“We have a team of five Soldiers and our primary function is to oversee the safety of all the projects taking place at Javits,” Gallant said. “On a daily basis I am constantly working with civilian agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, state fire and Northwell Health along with various military forces working at Javits.”
The corps of engineers have been handling most of the building projects while Northwell Health is a private company that was brought in by the governor to manage patient intake.
The team has been pushing out the latest guidance and education on COVID-19 while also revamping the donning/doffing process for personal protective equipment. To help make life easier for the staff, Gallant and his team also set up brake areas for them to safely unwind, complete with TV’s, microwaves, coffee machines, refrigerators and everything they would need to relax.
They also established a sick call for New York National Guardsmen working there as well as procedures on how to handle possible COVID-19 positive cases.
That’s where Gallant was approached by Army Maj. Robert Freed, the deputy commander for New York’s 24th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team (WMD-CST). As the officer in charge, Freed’s team is responsible for testing people for the COVID-19 virus.
“I had heard that Warrant Office Gallant had previously tested positive for COVID-19 while my team and I were training the doctors and nurses about decontamination techniques to help keep the same,” Freed said. “The White House shipped us some of the new serologic antibody test kits to use and I thought Gallant would be the perfect candidate to try them out before we started using them on a larger scale.”
Freed explained that this type of test looks for viral anitbodies in the blood as opposed to an active presence of the disease near the nasopharynx; the back of your throat.
“If you’re actively sick, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests being used at the drive-thru sites are typically a better test since your body may not have developed antibodies at that point,” Freed said. “Basically, one test can help determine if you were sick and one test can help determine if you are sick.”
He continued that the test is conducted by pricking a finger and dropping a small amount of blood onto a cassette. Then adding a buffer solution, results come back in 10-20 minutes.
The 24th CST is equipped with a mobile lab that the team uses in the regular duties of finding, identifying and mitigating substances that are chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive in nature. They are able to take these capabilities and use them as part of the COVID-19 response.
“We were excited that the antibody test was able to confirm Warrant Officer Gallant had built-up antibodies for the COVID-19 virus,” Freed reported. “Having a tool that can help get Soldiers and Airmen back to duty is critical to maintaining our effectiveness as a force.”
It’s also critical that people like Gallant, who became ill, recovered and returned to the fight, are part of the New York National Guard’s COVID-19 response effort.
“The Guard is excellent at making quick work of large projects and does it well,” Gallant said. “We built something the world has never seen before and it would not have been possible without the great teamwork and knowledge that everyone brought to the table.”
| Date Taken: | 04.28.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 04.28.2020 09:35 |
| Story ID: | 368648 |
| Location: | MANHATTAN, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 616 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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