Guard Assists Illinois Residents in COVID-19 Response

April 15, 2020 | BY David Vergun , DOD News

About 31,000 Army and Air National Guard troops nationwide have been activated to support the COVID-19 pandemic response, and about 650 have been activated in Illinois, the chief of operations for the Illinois National Guard's joint task force said.

Army Lt. Col. Michael Eastridge spoke with reporters at the Pentagon by telephone today from Springfield, Illinois.

All missions the Guard takes on are initiated by civilian agencies and in close collaboration with the governor, Eastridge explained. ''The civil-military relationship has been absolutely outstanding,'' he said. ''The flow of information has been continuous throughout the day.''

Illinois Guard liaison officers are embedded in emergency operations centers to keep tabs on the status of hospitals and determine if Guard support is needed, Eastridge said.

Operations are centrally located for warehouse activities in Springfield, the state capital. This helps consolidate supplies and transportation throughout the state, he noted.

Service members are receiving training on personal protective equipment before conducting operations Eastridge said, and COVID-19 testing kits are available for service members if required. Religious support teams are available throughout the state to provide spiritual and mental support, he added.

Eastridge listed a few of the activities the National Guard is engaged in throughout Illinois:

    Supporting the buildout of the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago as an alternate care facility, in collaboration with the Army Corps of Engineers.

    Providing support to Cook County medical centers in respectful removal of the deceased. Service members are not physically removing the deceased from homes, he said, but rather are assisting the Cook County medical examiner's office with dignified transport of the deceased.

    Providing medical screenings at Stateville and Sheridan correctional facilities.

    Supporting logistics for alternate housing facilities in Schaumburg, Springfield and Mount Vernon. These facilities allow family members to isolate themselves if they don't already have the ability to do that to help prevent COVID-19 spread within families, he explained.

    Operating drive-thru testing sites, including in Harwood Heights, Markham and Bloomington. More sites will be established  upon request of state health officials, he said.

Eastridge noted that at one drive-thru, a civilian vehicle broke down, and service members were able to get the vehicle running again. The children of the family in the vehicle later returned to present pictures they had colored as a gesture of thanks to the service members who helped them.

Naval Medical Center Portsmouth Conducts 'Car Triage' as Safety Measure

April 15, 2020 | BY Navy Seaman Ariana Torman , DOD News

A "car triage" screening process in place at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in Virginia is designed to triage, test and treat low-acuity patients suspected to have COVID-19 and to protect medical staff by doing so in an open-air environment.

"This is all designed to keep patients in their vehicle, preventing spread of potential infections in waiting rooms and treatment areas of the hospital," Navy Cmdr. (Dr.) Peter Cole, the emergency medicine department chair, said. "Most patients are in and out in less than 45 minutes."

Vehicles that pull up to the main gate are directed to the right lane if they intend to go to the emergency department or if they have potential COVID-19 concerns. The vehicles then head to a parking  lot where tents are set up. An initial screener asks a few simple questions while the patients remain in their vehicles, and the patients are directed either to the ED or to the car triage station, as appropriate.

"Nurses, dentists and corps staff have a list of criteria by which a patient is deemed safe for evaluation in their vehicle," Cole said. "If need be, they may be directed either to the ED for further care or to the second tent, where they will remain in their vehicle and get evaluated by a licensed provider. There are evaluation areas available if the provider needs to have the patient get out of the car, but this usually is not necessary."

A portable X-ray capability is available in case a chest X-ray is required. After the evaluation, the provider may prescribe medicines — these are all on-hand, eliminating the need for patients to wait in the pharmacy, Cole said.

The success of the car triage process has been due to the efforts of the entire command, Cole said, including medical center leadership, the emergency management and all the personnel who have been sent from other areas of the medical center to assist.

The car triage process has had a great impact on the emergency department and the medical center as a whole, Cole said.

"One of the greatest concerns in a global pandemic is the overwhelming of hospital resources due to the sheer volume of patients who are seeking care," he said. "It has been a tremendous help to keep the ED flowing smoothly. Since it started, the average length of stay in the ED dropped almost 30 minutes per patient. This may not seem like a lot, but when you realize we see almost 6,000 patients a month, it certainly adds up."

The percentage of patients who left without being seen by a provider has dropped to zero in the last two weeks, the doctor noted.

Cole said the medical center's admission rate rose 170 percent, showing that the patients who make it to the ED are the ones who truly need to be there.

Along with car triage, the medical center's COVID-19 call center and screening advice line have helped to reduce the amount of foot traffic through the emergency department.

"Patients can call in and get better directions on what they should do if they believe they have symptoms," said Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Doxtator, a hospital corpsman and the car triage team lead. "Between the call center and the triage, we are really helping make a difference during this situation."

Since it began, the car triage team has refined the process as more information became available.

"This has been a group effort from the start, requiring heavy lifting from almost every directorate and a number of departments," Cole said. "This would not be possible without the assistance of dozens of people from all over contributing to the effort. Everyone can be very proud of this. It is something about which the entire command can hold their head high."

(Navy Seaman Ariana Torman is assigned to Naval Medical Center Portsmouth.)

NATO Defense Ministers Discuss Alliance's COVID-19 Response

April 15, 2020 | BY Jim Garamone , DOD News

NATO defense ministers have reviewed the alliance's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and agreed upon the next steps to take, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg held a virtual news conference in Brussels today after an online meeting of alliance defense ministers. Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper attended the defense ministers meeting from his Pentagon office.

Alliance members are cooperating in reacting to the pandemic just as if an enemy had attacked a NATO member, the secretary general said. "COVID-19 represents an unprecedented challenge to our nations," he added. "It has a profound impact on our people and our economies, and it is imposing historic shocks on the international system, which could have long-term consequences."

Allied officials planned against the pandemic and looked to the lessons that can be taken from the reaction to the viral plague, Stoltenberg said. He noted that in each country, the military is playing a key role in support of civilian efforts against the pandemic. "And using NATO mechanisms, allies have been helping each other to save lives," he added.

The NATO command — led by the supreme allied commander for Europe, Air Force Gen. Tod D. Wolters — was tasked with coordinating military support among the 30 allies. The general briefed the defense ministers on the NATO response.

"Military forces from across the Alliance have flown more than 100 missions to transport medical personnel, supplies and treatment capabilities, facilitated the construction of 25 field hospitals, added more than 25,000 treatment beds and deployed over 4,000 military medical personnel in support of civilian efforts," Stoltenberg said. "Today, I encouraged all allies to make their capabilities available so General Wolters can coordinate further support."

He said the pandemic is in different stages of infection in different NATO nations. This means that effectively coordinating resources makes a real difference, he said.

The pandemic is not the only concern for the NATO leaders, as missions of deterrence and defense must continue, Stoltenberg said.

"The bottom line is that security challenges have not diminished because of COVID-19," he said. "On the contrary, potential adversaries will look to exploit the situation to further their own interests. Terrorist groups could be emboldened."

The security situations in Afghanistan and Iraq remain fragile, and Russia continues its pace and threats, Stoltenberg noted.

"We must maintain our deterrence and defense because our core mission remains the same: to ensure peace and stability," the secretary general said. "While we continue to take all the necessary measures to protect our armed forces, our operational readiness remains undiminished, and our forces remain ready, vigilant and prepared to respond to any threat."

The alliance also is actively guarding against state and nonstate disinformation stemming from the pandemic. U.S. officials said that Russia has been using the crisis to its own ends and wants the United States to abandon NATO and weaken the alliance.

"We are countering these false narratives with facts and with concrete actions," Stoltenberg said. "We are also working even closer with allies and the European Union to identify, monitor and expose disinformation, and to respond robustly."

The defense ministers also looked at the long-term implications of the coronavirus, as the geopolitical effects of the pandemic could be significant, Stoltenberg said.

"Some may seek to use the economic downturn as an opening to invest in our critical industries and infrastructure, which in turn may affect our long-term security and our ability to deal with the next crisis  when it comes," he said.

It is still early to draw conclusions from these long-term discussions, Stoltenberg said, and discussions about them will continue. The defense ministers did agree, however, on a set of recommendations to strengthen the alliance's resilience.

Alliance members will update existing baseline requirements for civil preparedness, based on the lessons from the crisis. They also pledged to work even closer with international partners, Stoltenberg said.

NATO has adapted to change throughout its history and will continue to do so, Stoltenberg said. NATO was laser-focused on countering the Soviet Union during the Cold War, but adapted to the change once that threat dissolved. It changed again in response to the Balkan crisis and to the attack on the United States by terrorists in 2001. It changed yet again when Russia illegally annexed Crimea and continues to wage war in eastern Ukraine.

The pandemic is another enemy, he said, and the alliance will adapt. But that doesn't mean the alliance will be the first responder for the crisis.

"We should support the civilian efforts to fight this health crisis," the secretary general said. "We see around the whole world and across all NATO allies that military personnel are playing a key role in the fight."

Military airlift has been essential in the fight against the coronavirus, and military personnel are doing everything from disinfecting public spaces to controlling border crossings. NATO is helping to mobilize and coordinate support to NATO allied countries.

The main lesson so far is "a close link between the civilian efforts to fight the health crisis and the ability of the military to support those efforts," the secretary general said. "That's exactly what we also have to look into how we can do even better when the next crisis hits us," he added.

NATO cannot change its core responsibility to defend member states, but there are good reasons to look into how to further strengthen the cooperation between the civilian society combating a health crisis and military capabilities providing support to those civilian efforts, he said.