OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 3:43 PM PT — Wednesday, April 8, 2020
The Defense Department is planning to ramp up national response
efforts to fight the coronavirus. According to Pentagon officials, they
will activate another 10,000 National Guard troops to boost relief
operations across the nation.Additional deployments are expected within the next two weeks.
“We’ve been accelerating at sort of more than 1,000 a day,” explained General Joseph Lengyel. “We could easily get this up another (10,000) or more than that in the next week or two.”
The National Guard has assisted airport screenings, food distribution and quarantine efforts in states hit the hardest by coronavirus in recent weeks. Military officials added the guard’s virus response force is authorized to utilize up to 44,000 troops.
“Nearly three out of every four you see in uniform (who) are supporting testing sites, enhancing medical capacity, or delivering critically needed medical supplies and food are likely to be guardsmen and women,” stated Lengyel.
This April 6, 2020 photo from the Hawaii Army National Guard shows Spc. James Kamaka, 1st Squadron, 299th Cavalry, Hawaii National Guard screening departing passengers at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu. HING soldiers began assisting the Airport Fire Department with screening of arriving and departing passengers on April 6, and plan to continue to assist throughout the COVID-19 response. (Sgt. John Schoebel/Army National Guard via AP)
