DVIDS – News – NY Nationwide Guard hits two yr mark for COVID-19 mission

NEW YORK — Within the two years since March 8, 2020, when the New York Nationwide Guard was ordered to assist comprise a COVID-19 outbreak in New Rochelle, New York, 7,050 members of New York’s Army Forces have been a part of the state’s COVID-19 response.

Throughout these 730 days, members of the Army and Air Guard, the New York Naval Militia, and the New York Guard delivered tens of millions of meals, manned testing websites and the nation’s largest vaccination station, managed a discipline hospital, assisted NY city’s medical expert, cared for folks in nursing properties and educated non-medical Troopers and Airmen as emergency medical technicians.

That provides as much as 1,535, 326 workdays of help to their fellow New Yorkers, with virtually 55 million meals delivered, 4.5 million vaccinations supported, and 1.6 million folks examined for the virus.

On the similar time, the New York Nationwide Guard continued to fulfill federal mission necessities.

The New York Army Nationwide Guard deployed 650 Troopers from the forty second Infantry Division to Kuwait to command Process Drive Spartan Defend, in addition to smaller contingents deployed all over the world. In the meantime, the New York Air Nationwide Guard equipped analysis camps in Antarctica and Greenland, shuttled provides all over the world, and offered air cowl for American forces on the bottom within the Central Command space and deployed rescue belongings to the Horn of Africa.

And the New York Nationwide Guard additionally deployed 1,723 Troopers and Airmen in Title 32 standing to help in safety missions in Washington, D.C. within the wake of the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. Personnel remained on obligation in Washington into March 2021.

“Our service members and civilian staff have performed improbable work, producing greater than 1.5 million work days since March 8, 2020 supporting the states’ COVID pandemic response efforts,” stated Main Normal Ray Shields, the Adjutant Normal of New York.

“The willingness of our service members to volunteer to serve on the mission, and the fixed dedication of our civilian workforce, has been phenomenal. I do know Governor Kathy Hochul has been supportive of every thing the New York Nationwide Guard has performed over the previous two years,” Shields added.

“That is merely an enormous and unprecedented effort,” Shields stated.

The mission has included 5,406 Army Guard Troopers, 1,073 Air Guard Airmen, 387 Sailors and Marines of the New York Naval Militia, and 184 volunteers from the New York Guard, the state’s self-defense pressure.

The whole energy of New York’s army forces is about 19,000 folks.

The preliminary tasking was for New York Nationwide Guard troops to offer college lunches to college students within the New Rochelle college district. The college had been closed as a part of an effort to comprise COVID-19 and the purpose was to ensure children who relied on college lunches bought them.

Then the mission prolonged to cleansing and disinfecting surfaces in 22 space public buildings to comprise the virus.

Then Nationwide Guard troops had been manning the primary drive-thru testing web site in New York, manning name middle telephones to reply questions from the general public and delivering 112,707 gallons of “NYS Clear” hand sanitizer to places across the state.

In 2020, the New York Nationwide Guard mission focus was on passing out meals to folks with out work as a result of pandemic, staffing vaccination websites throughout the state, aiding in warehousing and distributing medical provides, and even establishing a discipline hospital on the Jacob Javits Conference Heart to accommodate as much as 1,000 sufferers.

The hospital was imagined to take non-COVID sufferers to release house in hospitals for COVID-19 sufferers. Finally, 1,095 COVID-19 sufferers had been handled on the facility, which was managed by the New York Nationwide Guard and staffed by energetic obligation army medical personnel.

New York Nationwide Guard troops helped preserve three further discipline hospitals which had been constructed, simply in case, however by no means used, and in addition assembled COVID-19 take a look at kits which had been shipped throughout the state.

In April of 2020, Airmen and Troopers had been deployed in New York Metropolis to assist the Workplace of the Chief Medical Examiner cope with a surge in deaths as a consequence of COVID-19.

The Guardsmen and ladies teamed up with members of the medical expert ‘s workplace to retrieve stays of two,822 New Yorkers from properties and different amenities. A crew of Guard Airmen from the Fatality Search and Restoration crew of the 107th Assault Wing in Niagara Falls had been already educated within the casualty duties, however the bulk of the 170 Guardsmen had been educated on the spot for the mandatory however grim job.

Additionally they assisted at short-term morgue trailers arrange in Brooklyn and labored with an energetic Army mortuary affairs firm introduced in to help as properly.

Within the fall, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo directed Nationwide Guard personnel to gather well being affidavits from passengers arriving at 12 New York airports. Finally 3,074,048 kinds had been collected.

In December 2020, the Division of Protection chosen the New York Nationwide Guard as a distribution take a look at web site for the primary doses of COVID-19 vaccine for the U.S. army. New York Nationwide Guard medical personnel administered 1,000 vaccinations of the Pfizer vaccine and labored out procedures to vaccinate Guard Troopers and Airmen, civilian staff and veterans effectively.

In 2021, the main target shifted to work at vaccination websites throughout New York. The biggest of those was on the Jacob Javits Conference Heart in New York, as soon as once more pressed into pandemic service.

Between January 13 and July 9, 2021, no less than 346,000 New Yorkers acquired 647,973 photographs on the conference middle. The variety of folks vaccinated is an approximation, in keeping with the New York State Division of Well being, as a result of some bought second photographs at different places.

The New York Nationwide Guard assigned 620 personnel to assist administer the situation and help with vaccinations.

Throughout 2021, New York Nationwide Guard personnel assisted within the supply of three,977,911 vaccinations. New York Nationwide Guard medical personnel administered 118,694 of these vaccinations on to residents.

New York Nationwide Guard personnel continued to help at testing websites, though these places started to close down as extra folks had been vaccinated and extra testing choices opened.

The logistics missions continued and in December of 2021, the New York Nationwide Guard was tasked with offering personnel to assist fill staffing shortages in nursing properties because the COVID-19 Omicron variant surged throughout the state.

The purpose was to open up nursing house beds in order that sufferers taking over house in hospitals could possibly be transferred to long run care amenities, in keeping with Gov. Kathy Hochul.

On Dec. 1, 2021, Hochul ordered 120 Army Nationwide Guard medics and Air Nationwide Guard medical technicians into 13 nursing properties and long run care amenities to assist make up for staffing shortages.

As 2021 turned to 2022, the New York Nationwide Guard expanded the nursing house mission, with 485 army personnel conducting care and basic help actions at 87 nursing amenities situated throughout New York in early March.

In one other initiative directed by the governor, the New York Nationwide Guard recognized 400 personnel who volunteered to coach as emergency medical technicians. 4-week crash programs had been performed throughout the state for Troopers, Airmen and Naval Militia and New York Guard members on obligation.

After finishing the courses they full a state take a look at to develop into licensed EMTs. The purpose is to offer extra Guard members with medical {qualifications}, even when they don’t seem to be in medical roles of their army models.

The Omicron surge additionally resulted within the opening of extra state-run, Nationwide Guard staffed, vaccination websites, with 28 vaccination places throughout the state on the finish of February 2022.

The rise in COVID-19 instances brought on by the Omicron variant additionally resulted in 120 Troopers and Airmen occurring obligation within the New York Metropolis medical expert’s workplace as soon as once more. On this case, it was not due to an anticipated enhance in deaths, however a priority that medical expert’s workplace staffers could be sick with COVID-19 and the workplace could be short-staffed.

Because the mission started on Dec. 28, 2021, New York Nationwide Guard personnel have assisted within the dignified restoration of the stays of two,652 New Yorkers.

Statistics for the previous two years of mission accomplishments embody:

• COVID-19 take a look at kits assembled: 32,319,047

• COVID-19 Vaccinations supported: 4,566,442

• COVID-19 vaccinations offered by Nationwide Guard members: 139,608

• COVID-19 exams supported: 1,675,310

• Airport Knowledge Assortment: 3,074,048 Well being Varieties Collected / 12 Airports Supported

• Meals Distribution: 54,899,025 Meals Distributed

• Civil Assist Crew COVID-19 testing: 14,288 exams

• Pallets of provides processed: 57,457

• Decedent Restoration: 5,474 stays

• Nursing house help: 34,731 man-hours offered

• Antibody Testing Websites: 14,269

• Nursing Residence On-Website Testing: 2,179

• Hand Sanitizer Distro: 112,707 Gallons Delivered

• Name Heart Assist: 278,162 Calls Dealt with

• Masks Match Testing: 1,889 Personnel Match-Examined

• Facility Cleansing: 907,000 Sq. Ft Cleaned, 22 Areas