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Nevada National Guard’s Major General Ondra Berry speaks during a covid-19 press conference, Wednesday, April 2, 2020.
Published Wednesday, April 1, 2020 | 5:26 p.m.
Updated Wednesday, April 1, 2020 | 7:09 p.m.
Gov. Steve Sisolak has activated the Nevada National Guard to assist in fighting the coronavirus pandemic, saying the guardsmen will be used to assist in the support of medical, security, transportation, logistical and food service efforts.
“This activation means that Nevada has the best of the best running our statewide response operation,” Sisolak said.
By activating the guard, Nevada can also pursue federal funding to assist it, Sisolak said.
The first-term governor praised the National Guard's readiness to assist in "every scenario imaginable."
"From delivering critical medical equipment and supplies to providing a labor force and planning the massive logistical operations needed to get resources from point A to point B, no one is better," Sisolak said.
Maj. Gen. Ondra Berry, the top officer in the Nevada National Guard who manages the Nevada Department of the Military, applauded the governor’s decision, saying it’s the “exact right time” for the governor to act. “Our personnel are more than equipped to take on this additional responsibility,” Berry said.
There are about 100 guardsmen who will be split evenly between Northern and Southern Nevada. They could provide security at testing sites, manage food banks, deliver supplies to hospitals and disinfect public spaces.
“Whatever the need may be, the governor has the ability to say, ‘Do you have the personnel, are they qualified to take on this task?,’” Berry said.
Berry said that no Nevadan working a critical job during the pandemic will be called into active duty.
“It is important, also, for everyone to understand that no one who is a first responder or in the medical profession, or transportation, or has a critical job right now, will be taken away from their civilian employment to augment or supplement what we do from a state active duty standpoint,” he said.
Sisolak also announced that certain licensing requirements for health care workers will be waived due to the pandemic. The order will allow people who have retired from the medical field or moved from another state to work in the state’s health care system.
“This directive will waive certain licensing requirement to allow us to quickly bring additional health care workers into our hospitals where we so desperately need them right now,” Sisolak said.
A similar order was passed by then-Gov Brian Sandoval after the Oct. 1, 2017, Strip shooting.
