President Donald Trump activated the National Guard on Sunday night to respond to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis in three of the states hit the hardest: California, New York, and Washington state.
Trump said he spoke with all three governors on Sunday, and said they’re “very happy with what we’re going to be doing,” The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would be covering 100% of the cost for the deployment, he said, and they will be under the governors’ control.
He added that each of the three states had been approved, or would be approved, for major disaster declarations.
“We have large quantities of medical equipment and supplies on the way, based on all of this, to those states — including respirators, surgical masks and gowns, face shields, coveralls, and gloves, with large quantities already delivered to Washington and New York,” Trump said.
Two U.S. Navy hospital ships are also being deployed to each coast — the USNS Mercy to Los Angeles, and USNS Comfort to New York.
As of Sunday night, there were over 32,000 cases of coronavirus in the U.S., per CNN.