W.Va. Guard missions top 280 in response to COVID-19

Since beginning operations in support of the state’s COVID-19 response 27 days ago, the West Virginia National Guard (WVNG) has completed 280 missions through our four lines of effort of operationalizing of the event, stabilizing the population, providing logistical movement of critical supplies and conducting data analysis to combat the virus. Currently, nearly 560 members of the (WVNG) are on duty serving the citizens of the State of West Virginia.

Since our last update, we have increased our number of personnel supporting the Workforce West Virginia mission to 21 and are working on standing up a third call center to address the growing need for processing unemployment claims. By next week, our service members will be fully trained and able to begin processing those claims, and in addition, more personnel will be added to assist with answering calls to meet increasing demands for assistance.

The WVNG, in collaboration with the West Virginia Office of Technology and Workforce West Virginia, are evaluating new technologies that will enhance customer service and create efficiencies in claims processing to further address the current backlog and streamline future processing for West Virginians.

Members of Task Force Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Response Enterprise (TF-CRE) provided training to 49 local retail establishments yesterday on proper cargo, box handling and PPE wear. They will be training an additional 37 stores today while also assisting in PPE training in Welch. This team will be looking into developing guidelines and best practices, in conjunction with county health departments, for convenience stores and gas stations to implement to protect workers and customers in preventing the spread of COVID-19.

So far, TF-CRE has trained 174 stores and 651 personnel while also assisting with COVID-19 drive through testing lanes in Huntington, Grafton, Weston and Brooke County. Drive through testing support will expand to include Wyoming and Mingo Counties later this week and Hampshire and Logan Counties next week.

Our mission of supporting the most vulnerable populations in the state continues to make an impact and in the last 24 hours we packed 417 family boxes at the Facing Hunger Food Bank in Huntington and 2,086 meals at the Mountaineer Food Bank. Personnel operating our refrigerated trucks assisted in the delivery of 3,500 meals to Greenbrier, Ohio and McDowell Counties yesterday.

Today, 25 Soldiers and Airmen from our logistics team provided assistance at St. Francis Hospital in Charleston, alongside personnel from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Department of Health and Human Resources and Division of Military Affairs and Public Safety, in the conversion of space to support COVID-19 patients as an Alternate Care Site.

This team received 50,000 gloves, 6,900 gowns, 92,100 surgical masks and 34,080 face shields today and distributed critical PPE supplies to Morgan, Jefferson and Berkeley counties to address PPE needs for areas where there has been an increase in cases. That delivery consisted of 3,300 gloves, 600 gowns, 650 surgical masks, 520 N95 masks, 105 face shields, and 80 goggles.

Our data analysts working with DHHR’s regional epidemiology teams were able to support 153 contact tracing engagements and eight expedited specimen transfers to track the spread of COVID-19 in West Virginia. In addition, Col. Kermit Huebner from the WVNG’s Task Force Medical, assisted Wayne County yesterday and today by transporting swabs and viral transport media to additional testing could be conducted in the nursing home. He also assisted with epidemiology evaluation of the facility, evaluated infection control practices and is assisting today with a testing strategy for patients and staff.

The WVNG has conducted the following missions since coming on duty to support the state in all aspects of COVID-19 preparation and response:

• Soldiers are providing assistance with food box building and distribution at with the Mountaineer Food Bank and the Facing Hunger Food Bank in Huntington.
• WVNG medical personnel are supporting the COVID-19 hotline in Charleston, answering calls and providing information to concerned citizens.
• 38 Liaison officers from the WVNG are working hand-in-hand with the various West Virginia agencies who are leading the response to COVID-19 to include the Department of Health and Human Resources, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and Department of Education.
• The WVNG’s Task Force Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive (CBRNE) Response Enterprise (TF-CRE) has provided instruction to more than 364 first responders, hospital staff, and retailers in order to help prepare them on how to minimize cross-contamination through proper wear of, “donning” and “doffing” of PPE. 
• 14 Soldiers provided capabilities for conducting COVID-19 swabs in Morgantown March 23^rd and 24^th and in Charleston April 6^th, utilizing PAPRs PPE that can be decontaminated and reused, greatly reducing the use of disposable, one-time-use PPE.
• Soldiers continue to provide logistical support for delivery of PPE from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (WVDHHR) and West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (WVDHSEM) to hospitals and health departments.
• The WVNG has fielded a network of seven epidemiology teams to assist DHHR with COVID-19 tracking and analytics.
• We continue to provide logistical pickup and transfer of PAPRs and canisters to various health care networks in the event of a surge of patients.
• Soldiers are providing traffic control assistance to drive through testing facilities in Huntington, Grafton, and Lewis County.
• 21 Soldiers are assisting Workforce West Virginia to increase capacity to process unemployment claims in the state.
• Communications staff assisted in the testing of broadband access in underserved areas of West Virginia for telehealth initiatives and providing rewiring capabilities for St. Francis Hospital as portions of the hospital are converted to COVID-19 treatment areas.

All current and future missions performed by the WVNG are a part of a coordinated state-level public health preparation and response effort for the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, initiated by Governor Jim Justice, and being led by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

The West Virginia National Guard has a bench of nearly 6,400 experienced and proven Air and Army National Guard professionals who frequently train side-by-side with state and local emergency responders, making them well-suited for domestic operations.

Our National Guard members work and live in every community have a proven record of accomplishment supporting civilian authorities during and after homeland emergencies.