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Home : News
NEWS | May 30, 2020

W.Va. Guard support to Mountaineer ChalleNGe Academy ongoing during pandemic

By Maj. Holli Nelson WVNG Public Affairs

During today’s press briefing, Maj. Gen. James Hoyer, the Adjutant General of the West Virginia National Guard, outlined the continued support being offered to our Mountaineer ChalleNGe Academy (MCA) cadets.

In March, cadets were sent home from their campus at Camp Dawson out of an abundance of caution due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since that time, staff and faculty at MCA have been conducting virtual training to ensure students were on track to meet the requirements for graduation.

Over the next few days, more than 100 cadets will return to take their end of course exam.

“Of the kids who left when we asked them to go home at the beginning of this pandemic, we have all but two cadets who have chosen to continue on in the program,” Hoyer noted. “I think it’s a great testament to our staff and faculty.”

Hoyer also noted that the Guard, in conjunction with the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources and Division of Emergency Management, continue their mission of securing personal protective equipment in order to meet Governor Justice’s intent of having a six-month stockpile for West Virginia’s response needs.

Since beginning operations in support of the state’s COVID-19 response 77 days ago, the WVNG has completed 1,280 missions through our six lines of effort of operationalizing of the event, stabilizing the population, providing logistical movement of critical supplies, innovation, state surge capacity and capability, and conducting data analysis to combat the virus. Currently, 654 members of the WVNG are on duty serving the citizens of the State of West Virginia.

This weekend, Task Force CRE and Task Force Medical will once again assist with COVID-19 testing lanes in Berkeley, Jefferson, Kanawha, Mineral and Morgan Counties. To date, Task Force CRE and Task Force Medical have conducted 96 COVID-19 lane support missions testing 5,925 individuals and 3,430 tests as a part of their rapid response mission.

Task Force CRE is continuing to provide PPE training for various businesses, state agencies and first responders. To date, this team has trained 792 businesses, 4,498 personnel and 101 medical or long-term care facilities.

This team is also assisting in the Eastern Panhandle to provide additional PPE and sanitization training to stores and restaurants to address a recent uptick in COVID-19 cases there.

In the last 24 hours, West Virginia Guardsmen and women assisted the Facing Hunger Food Bank by staffing a mobile food bank in Lincoln County. In addition, they delivered 4,025 meals to Braxton and Putnam County via refrigerated trailers.

Task Force Sustainment, our team dedicated to receiving and moving critical supplies across the state, delivered PPE to 20 of 55 county emergency managers yesterday.   

West Virginia Guard personnel assisting in sanitization lanes for first responder and public transport vehicles have sanitized 483 vehicles in two locations – Huntington and Charleston – which includes ambulances, police vehicles and public transport buses.

West Virginia National Guard medical personnel augmenting DHHR’s regional epidemiology teams were able to support 199 voluntary COVID-19 mapping engagements and two expedited specimen transfer to the state lab. To date, the state’s seven regional epidemiology teams have conducted more than 8,578 voluntary COVID-19 mappings.

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.

Updates

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