US Military Deploys Medics In Texas, California Hospitals To Aid COVID-19 Response

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2020) Military medial personnel have been deployed in hospitals across Texas and California to assist their civilian colleagues treat novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases there, US Army North Commander Laura Richardson said during a press briefing on Tuesday.

"The immediate need is to focus on states that are asking for Federal assistance or needing help in the hospitals. And that's where all our folks are going," Richardson said. "We have folks working in five different hospitals [in Texas]... We already have the eight locations hospitals that are spread about a 200-mile area in California.

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Richardson said the deployment was undertaken on the request of the two states' authorities and characterized it as lesson learned and best practice from the previous stages of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Richardson also said the partial mobilization of forces to support the coronavirus response efforts will last two years.

Increased testing has reflected an increase in novel coronavirus cases in some parts of the United States. However, US officials have said the number of virus-related deaths relative to the number of cases has decreased tenfold.