ATLANTA — Last week, Gov. Brian Kemp announced his plan to handle Georgia's latest surge of COVID-19, which includes deploying the national guard.
Kemp announced Tuesday the locations where the guard and about 200 troops will be deployed.
The governor said about 96 troops will support Georgia's Department of Public Health at testing sites and another 100 troops will serve at hospitals, including Atrium Health Navicent in Macon, Houston Medical Center in Warner Robins, and Phoebe Putney in Albany.
According to the governor's Twitter account, 96 personnel will be assigned to support 16.
Georgia DPH testing sites in the following health districts and needs at the DPH warehouse:
- North
- Cobb & Douglas
- Fulton
- Gwinnett, Newton, Rockdale (GNR)
- DeKalb
- East Central
- West Central
102 personnel will be assigned to support these 11 hospitals:
- Atrium Health Navicent
- Phoebe Putney Albany
- Houston Medical Center
- University Health Care System
- Tanner Health System
- Grady Health System
- Piedmont Atlanta
- Wellstar
- Piedmont Henry
- Upson Regional Medical Center Thomaston
- Northeast Georgia Medical Center
The governor said last week that he met with nine representatives from hospital systems in Georgia who said they're are experiencing staffing shortages and are now feeling the strain of the omicron variant. That's why Kemp said the state is also putting $100 million toward healthcare staff augmentation to help add 1,000 additional personnel.
Between troops and augmented medical staff, Kemp hopes to boost Georgia's medical system to help address the omicron variant and its strain on the state's hospital systems.