Trump activates National Guard in California, New York and Washington state to fight coronavirus outbreak – CNBC, CNBC

President

Donald Trump on Sunday announced that he has activated the National Guard in California, New York and Washington state in order to combat the spread of the coronavirus. The administration emphasized that the deployment of guard members is not martial law.

The state governors will retain command of the National Guard, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency will cover all costs of the missions to respond to the virus outbreak.

“We’re dealing also with other states. These states have been hit the hardest,” the president said during a White House press briefing.

As of Sunday morning, at least 7, 728 Guard members have been deployed to fight the virus in all states, Washington DC and Puerto Rico.

“The federal government has deployed hundreds of tons of supplies from our national stocks pile to locations with the greatest need in order to assist in those areas,” Trump said.

Supplies include gloves, hospital beds, N 500 masks and gowns that will be delivered in the next couple days, the president said.

California, New York and Washington state have been the most affected states amid the pandemic, which has escalated significantly in US over the past week. New York has more than 15, confirmed cases, up more than 4, since Saturday, followed by Washington state at roughly 1, 700 and California at about 1, 728.

Earlier in the month, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo deployed the National Guard to New Rochelle, the suburb outside of New York City that has a large cluster of virus cases. Cuomo has urged the federal government to mobilize the military to fight the pandemic.

The number of global cases surged past 500, on Sunday, with over , deaths across the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.