PEEKSKILL, N.Y. – The New York National Guard helped hospitals across the state establish dedicated space for an expected influx of patients showing symptoms of COVID-19.
As of Monday, 20,875 people in New York have tested positive for the coronavirus - more than 12,000 of them in New York City.
The Westchester County Office of Emergency Management provided nine of 10 county disaster response tents to local hospitals, with National Guard Soldiers providing support to put them in place March 18-20.
"With all you guys here, we can just bang it out quick," said Jim Sheridan, a retired Westchester firefighter supporting the county emergency management office in delivering and placing the tents.
Soldiers on site had already performed a variety of missions in and around New Rochelle. Pvt. Cindy Ganesh, assigned to the 369th Sustainment Brigade Headquarters, distributed food and hand sanitizer to communities hit by the outbreak and put up tents at sampling sites.
"We're all in this together," Ganesh said, "so it's good to be working on different missions."
With repetition, the Soldiers and firefighters made quick work of the tent mission at the New York-Presbyterian-Hudson Valley Hospital in Cortlandt Manor.
"Twenty-two minutes, that's a new record, even for us," Sheridan said. "Goes to show how fast this goes when we all work together."
The New York National Guard has more than 1,600 service members operating in six task forces across the state. That number continues to grow as missions expand the Guard's support to local government.