NORFOLK, Va. — The Pentagon is adding an additional 1,000 active-duty military medical personnel to the national effort to provide relief to civilian healthcare systems under immense strain from the surge in COVID-19 cases.
Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby says the first of those additional service members will be available to deploy next week.
They will join the more than 400 active-duty military medical personnel already supporting healthcare systems.
Those numbers don't include more than 15,000 National Guardsmen who are also supporting efforts across the country.
The surge response teams began deploying in July and have already been to 39 states and four territories to work alongside civilian healthcare workers.
