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Quantitative Analysis of United States National Guard COVID-19 Disaster Relief Activities April-June 2020

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2023

Terri Davis ,
Katherine Pilcher ,
Reis Novaro ,
Attila J Hertelendy Open the ORCID record for Attila J Hertelendy [Opens in a new window] ,
Alexander Hart ,
Georgina Nouaime  and
Gregory R Ciottone
Terri Davis*
Affiliation:
BIDMC Disaster Medicine Fellowship, Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA Department of Emergency Medicine, Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, Tallahassee, FL, USA
Katherine Pilcher
Affiliation:
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Reis Novaro
Affiliation:
University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
Attila J Hertelendy
Affiliation:
BIDMC Disaster Medicine Fellowship, Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics, College of Business, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
Alexander Hart
Affiliation:
BIDMC Disaster Medicine Fellowship, Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA Department of Emergency Medicine, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT, USA University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT, USA
Georgina Nouaime
Affiliation:
BIDMC Disaster Medicine Fellowship, Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Gregory R Ciottone
Affiliation:
BIDMC Disaster Medicine Fellowship, Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
*
Corresponding author: Terri Davis; Email: tdmd7777@gmail.com.
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Abstract

Objective:

This study interprets data from NG situation reports (SITREPS) given to the National Guard Bureau (NGB) by each state national guard headquarters regarding their COVID-19 relief efforts from April to June 2020. This is the first published study about NG disaster relief utilizing quantitative data provided by the United States (US) military.

Methods:

The SITREPS of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands for the dates of April 10, May 6, May 16, and June 3, 2020 were examined by two authors, to analyze the state NG activities.

Results:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the NG primarily provided security, performed COVID-19 testing, ran COVID-19 shelters, provided food assistance, transported supplies, aided mortuaries, supported warehouses, and deployed medical personnel to hospitals. Numerical data about the services provided, such as quantity, was rare, but is included as available.

Conclusions:

The United States National Guard provided assistance to their local citizens in multiple essential areas. This elucidation of the uses of the National Guard should be considered during future governmental disaster preparedness planning efforts and can be extrapolated to international military disaster relief.

Keywords

United States National GuardCOVID-19emergency responsecivil-militarycoordination
Type
Research Letters
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 17 , 2023 , e562
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc

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References

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