Baker Activates 500 Additional National Guard Members To Help Health Care System
BOSTON (CBS) -- Gov. Charlie Baker activated an additional 500 members of the Massachusetts National Guard on Tuesday to continue supporting the state's health care system. The announcement came after Baker said Massachusetts had secured 26 million rapid antigen COVID-19 tests that will be distributed over the next three months.
"There's no question at this point in time that staffing remains an enormous challenge for many of these providers. This activation will alleviate some of the pressure in those places," Baker said. "I can't tell you how grateful we are to the men and women of the guard for stepping up once again to support the Commonwealth's response to COVID-19."
The 500 members are in addition to the 500 members that were activated at the end of last month.
Starting the week of January 17, they will support non-clinical staffing tasks at community hospitals and high-volume emergency departments, public hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and dialysis centers.