Washington Military Department 2020/2021 Annual Report

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2020 OVERVIEW Employees of the Washington Military Department have been at the center of the COVID-19 response since the beginning, helping the state Department of Health with pandemic planning before COVID-19 was even on the national radar and helping with logistics, operations and planning support as the response became ever critical. Soldiers and Airmen of the Washington National Guard have helped with testing sites, in food banks and even in call centers serving as virtual detectives in tracking where the virus spreads. In all, 2020 presented new challenges and incredible successes for each and every division of the Washington Military Department, which used flexibility and innovation to continue to effectively serve our state and nation under trying circumstances.

COVID-19 Pandemic Response The Emergency Management Division activated the State’s Emergency Operations Center when a Snohomish County man tested positive for the novel coronavirus in late January. Given it was the first positive case in the nation, the Washington Military Department became one of the centerpieces for the state’s critical response to COVID-19. Before the virus had wide-spread transmission and general public awareness, personnel with the Washington National Guard and Washington Emergency Management Division assisted the state Department of Health with pandemic planning, logistics and operations support. Within days, the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) went from a partial activation which included officials from the state Department of Health and external affairs, to a full activation with the incident management team from DOH working out of the SEOC. The SEOC supervisor activated nearly every emergency support function, and personnel from FEMA and the US Coast Guard also arrived to assist. Every corner of the SEOC was occupied. Staff worked 12-hour shifts to ensure resource requests from local jurisdictions were met. Elsewhere on Camp Murray, communications staff from more than a dozen state agencies located together to form a Joint Information Center. JIC staff helped respond to dozens of media requests, and conducted media briefs nearly daily.

For a few days at the end of February and beginning of March, teams from Health, Emergency Management and other state agencies came together to help craft and strategize for some of the non-pharmaceutical interventions that would help guide the state in the months to come. Vice President Mike Pence visited Camp Murray with elected officials from Washington to discuss next steps and strategies to bend the curve of the outbreak. By the second week of March, restaurant doors were closed. Schools were shut down. People were told to stay home unless they were going out for an essential service, such as shopping for groceries. Employees at the Washington Military Department were given unprecedented access to teleworking and told to stay home if they could. Those working the response, who were unable to telework at the time, were subjected to temperature checks and health screenings before entering the SEOC to avoid a possible outbreak.

As COVID-19 continued to spread, Brig. Gen. Bryan Grenon, the land component commander, was activated as a Dual-Status commander, and the Guard stood up the Homeland Response Force to manage the National Guard’s response. A Soldier with 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry Regiment monitors a street in downtown Bellevue Wash., June 1, 2020. (U.S. National Guard photo by Sgt. Alec Dionne)

Immediately, the Washington National Guard began supporting food banks, as many locations saw the need for food grow while the number of volunteers able to work quickly shrink. By year’s end, the Guard had assisted with the processing, packaging and distribution of more than 71 million pounds of food across the state.


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