Crammed like canned sardines and with an outbreak of covid-19 affecting at least a hundred soldiers, the thousands of members of the National Guard deployed to the Capitol, according to the country’s media.
Three members of that body told the political media that at least 100 members of the National Guard stationed in Washington DC after the attack on the Capitol on January 6 Supporters of former President Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus and some are quarantining nearby hotels.
At this time, the National Guard has not reported the number of cases, although it is feared that Covid-19 has spread very quickly among the 25,000 troops deployed in the center of the capital.
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After the inauguration on Wednesday Joe Biden As president, more than 10,000 troops remain in service, while another 15,000 are expected to return home in the coming days, Defense Department officials said Thursday.
Thousands of soldiers guarded the areas around the Capitol until Joe Biden’s inauguration.
According to Politico, the National Guard has struggled to implement a plan to test soldiers, some of whom had to be tested for the disease alone.
The newspaper The Washington Post points out that hundreds of members of the National Guard were deployed this Friday on Capitol Hill, they slept on the ground in garages outside the convention building on Thursday night.
After the scandal caused by the media released photos of the soldiers sleeping on the concrete of a parking lot, they were allowed to rest in the buildings of the Capitol complex this Friday.
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Two men in uniform pointed to the Post that Thursday afternoon they moved without explanation to a garage where there was hardly any space, vehicles passed nearby, they were exposed to smoke and there were few bathrooms. Before Thursday, the troops were able to spend their time relaxing in the Capitol.
However, they had to how they could sleep on the concrete floor or carpets in those facilities, or even on nearby indoor tennis courts.
I promise every member of the National Guard it won’t happen again
Members of the National Guard have hotel rooms, but soldiers are usually on duty for a day or two, shifts of a few hours, and cannot easily return to their lodgings, many of which are outside the District of Columbia. In the neighboring states of Virginia and Maryland.
Photos of soldiers crammed into parking lots have received criticism from lawmakers themselves. Majority Leader in the Senate Chuck Schumer He confirmed this Friday that he had spoken to those responsible for security in the Capitol so that “this doesn’t happen again.”
“I promise every member of the National Guard that it will not happen again,” Schumer said in the room. In fact, the Senate Committee is investigating the relocation of soldiers to parking places for their breaks, although they mainly want to know if adequate precautions have been taken against the COVID-19Missouri Senator Roy Blunt, the top Republican on this committee, revealed to the politician.
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After Biden’s inauguration, the challenge now is to return all those troops to the states that have sent reinforcements to Washington DC.
Some members of the National Guard, such as members of the Wisconsin Air National Guard, were given the opportunity to receive the first dose of the covid-19 vaccine before deploying in Washington, with some receiving the serum last week and others the first dose this Friday. Yet this agency still does not have a standardized plan to vaccinate all troops returning to their homes.
EFE
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