Iowa National Guard Transports COVID-19 Test Kits by Helicopter

May 11, 2020 | BY ARMY CPL. SAMANTHA HIRCOCK

Iowa Army National Guard soldiers helped their fellow Iowans by transporting COVID-19 test kits.

Pilots Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Mike Mauss and Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Brandon Burrows, along with helicopter maintainer Army Sgt. Jason Humke, transported the test kits by helicopter May 4 from a Test Iowa site in Sioux City to the State Hygienic Lab in Coralville.

Air transport missions are expected to continue as Test Iowa sites across the state continue to provide COVID-19 testing to those who have been exposed.

"To keep the lab running efficiently, ideally we want to have as many test kits there as we can,"Army Capt. Brad Nolan, the assistant operations officer with the 67th Troop Command and Task Force East, said. "This requires getting test kits to the [lab] as quickly as possible."

Previously, the test kits were driven from the Test Iowa sites to the State Hygienic Laboratory by soldiers with the 109th Multifunctional Medical Battalion, Nolan said, noting that the trips could take up to six hours to complete.

While Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines suggest that tests can be viable for more than 72 hours if kept at the appropriate temperatures, immediate transport is recommended. With efficiency and safety as the primary goals, the National Guard's support of the state's response to the pandemic helps to maximize the test's viability by drastically cutting down the total travel time.

"Put simply, this will save us time," Nolan said.

(Army Cpl. Samantha Hircock is assigned to the Iowa Army National Guard’s 135th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.