More than 200 members of the California National Guard will deploy to COVID-19 testing sites around the state amid the omicron variant surge.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the deployment on Friday night. California National Guard members will serve at 50 OptumServe sites across the state by working as interim clinical staff and adding capacity for walk-in appointments, among other responsibilities. There are at least 15 of these sites in the Bay Area, according to KNTV, including the Antioch Community Center.
An unspecified number of National Guard members deployed there on Friday, according to the governor's office, which said the community center "is now doubling the number of windows and the number of available per appointments per day." The governor's office didn't specify how many appointments were available before Friday.
State officials on Friday said 90% of Californians "currently" live within 30 minutes of a testing site, all of which the state claims have maintained a 48-hour turnaround on PCR tests "amidst the surge."
"California has led the country's fight against COVID-19, implementing first-in-the-nation public health measures that have helped save tens of thousands of lives," Newsom said in a release. "We continue to support communities in their response to COVID by bolstering testing capacity."
The governor's office said more members of the National Guard will be deployed in "similar capacities" next week.
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