Courtesy Photo | U.S. Army Pfc. Kristoffshakur Larmond, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 258th Field...... read more read more
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LATHAM, N.Y.-As New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that the number of COVID-19 cases in the state continues to decline, the New York National Guard transformed the force of 2,959 personnel on duty to a steady state operations posture.
Six regional joint task forces that were established to provide maximum operational flexibility were consolidated into just two headquarters after 100 days of operations.
The force on duty has drawn down from over 3,600 personnel on duty and is expected to continue to decline, as the New York National Guard focuses on supporting several core pandemic response missions.
The current force structure includes 2,459 Soldiers, 353 Airmen, 76 members of the New York Guard, the state’s self-defense force, and 71 members of the New York Naval Militia.
The two new headquarters are Joint Task Force North, based at the Thompson Road Armory at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse and Joint Task Force South, operating from the Lexington Avenue Armory in Manhattan.
Joint Task Force South will handle missions and operations in New York City, Long Island and in the New York suburbs of the lower Hudson Valley.
Joint Task Force North will be responsible for operations throughout the rest of the state.
The ongoing missions tasked to the New York National Guard include assisting at state run medical testing sites, warehouse support and logistics missions, food distribution in New York City, Westchester County, and upstate areas as required, and call center support.
A major mission to assist the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in removing remains of those who died at home in the city was phased out on June 13. More than 400 New York National Guard Soldiers and Airmen were involved in that mission and conducted the dignified recovery of 2,882 decedents.
Airmen and Soldiers also assisted Orange County and Westchester County with similar missions and assisted the medical examiner’s office in reorganizing human remains in refrigerator trailers used for overflown morgue space.
On June 16, Maj. Gen. Ray Shields, the adjutant general of New York, announced an initiative in which the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research will work with Soldiers and Airmen who conducted those decedent recovery missions. The institute has developed a tool to assess service members at regular intervals to determine their psychological health, Shields said in an e-mail to the force.
“The entire leadership team strongly encourages participation in this study,” Shields said.
The New York National Guard will also work with the Warrior Resilience Fitness Division of the National Guard Bureau to conduct studies of the personnel to assist their wellness and resilience after participating in the COVID-19 response mission.
That assessment will evaluate stressors associated with deploying for the COVID-19 response, those members who did not deploy and the impacts of family and community stress in dealing with COVID-19.
“Senior leaders will use the results of this study across the country to inform programs regarding resiliency. Both of these efforts will help the total force and improve resiliency programs, so I hope we get maximum participation,” Shields said.
New York National Guard personnel continue to assist state employees at 20 medical testing sites located across New York. Five of these are anti-body testing sites and 15 are drive through COVID-19 testing locations.
Since beginning these missions, the New York National Guard has assisted in 13,649 anti-body tests and 336,799 COVID-19 tests.
Since the beginning of the pandemic testing has increased across New York so that currently about 50,000 people are being tested each day at a variety of locations. In the past 109 days, 3.1 million New Yorkers have been tested for COVID-19, according to the governor, and 385,142 people have tested positive.
Expanded testing is critical to the safe and successful reopening of the state, Cuomo said.
The number of New Yorkers testing positive has now fallen below one percent, Cuomo said on June 16. On that day, out of 59,341 tests conducted, there were only 517 positive results for COVID-19.
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.
A major part of that mission has been consolidating medical supplies from a warehouse in Oriskaney, N.Y. and a hangar at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh to the Marcy Avenue Armory in New York City.
That armory is often used as a filming location for TV and movie productions in New York City and does not currently house troop units.
Soldiers have moved 714 pallets of personal protective equipment and 1,029 pallets of other equipment in conjunction with the New York State Department of Transportation.
They have delivered 360,000 masks to New York City locations and will receive and warehouse 845,000 medical gowns, 2.2 million protective masks, 4,000 oxygen cylinders and another 150 pallets of supplies at four other locations.
Meanwhile, Soldiers are working with state officials to ensure that all goods are properly accounted for.
And 87,596 gallons of sanitizer have been distributed in the lower Hudson Valley since the start of the mission.
Finally, teams of Soldiers and Airmen continue working with the New York State Department of Health’s Wadsworth Laboratory in Albany to assemble COVID-19 test sets. A total of 2,038,426 test kits have been built since the start of the mission.
| Date Taken: | 06.18.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 06.18.2020 14:56 |
| Story ID: | 372393 |
| Location: | LATHAM , NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 82 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NY National Guard restructures COVID pandemic response for steady-state missions, by Eric Durr, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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