North Dakota National Guard resumes COVID-19 duty

North Dakota’s COVID-19 response is getting a boost.  The National Guard has called up 65 members to help the state health department with contact tracing and state lab analysis.

The Guard members will be on state active duty at least through the end of the year.

The National Guard began COVID-19 duty in March 2020.  Last November the Guard assessed 67,495 personnel-days…surpassing the record days worked in response to 2011 flooding.  Currently it’s the 555th day of COVID-19 support duty with over 121,000 personnel-days.

Around 80 Guard members are currently serving on active duty for this mission.

Over the weekend state health officials identified 696 new cases of COVID-19.  The active case count is down slightly to 3,114.  There were 37 positive hits out of Grand Forks County.