Brig. Gen. Joane Mathews, Wisconsin’s deputy adjutant general for Army, answers media questions during a March 12, 2020 press conference at the State Emergency Operations Center in Madison, Wis. Gov. Tony Evers had declared a health emergency earlier in the day. Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs file photo
Gov. Tony Evers declared a public health emergency in Wisconsin one year ago today (March 12), a day after the World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 had become a pandemic.
“What a year,” Maj. Gen. Paul Knapp, Wisconsin’s adjutant general, said during a March 12 ceremony commemorating the anniversary. “Think about where we were one year ago.”
Wisconsin citizens returning from a cruise ship with confirmed cases of COVID-19 arrive at Volk Field Combat Readiness Training Center March 15, 2020. Wisconsin National Guard Soldiers and Airmen transported the residents to their homes for self-quarantine. Wisconsin National Guard file image
The governor’s emergency declaration cleared the way for the Wisconsin National Guard to be called to active duty if needed, and the need came quickly. Approximately 30 Soldiers and Airmen were called to state duty, to be ready to ferry home 37 Wisconsin residents arriving at Volk Field from a cruise ship with confirmed cases of coronavirus. The Wisconsin cruise passengers had not been diagnosed with COVID, and self-quarantined for 14 days once home.
“It wasn’t a time for us to shelter in place and ride out the storm,” Knapp said. “It was a call to action.”
Sunny Ridge Nursing and Rehabilitation Center staff, Sheboygan County Emergency Management staff and Wisconsin National Guard Soldiers and Airmen prepare to test Sunny Ridge staff and residents April 5, 2020 as part of the Wisconsin National Guard’s support of the state pandemic response effort. Wisconsin National Guard file photo
Shortly after that, a handful of Wisconsin National Guard members were dispatched to assist a senior living facility in Grafton, Wisconsin which was experiencing a staffing shortfall due to confirmed cases of COVID at the facility. The Wisconsin National Guard also began planning to support polling stations across the state, as “safer at home” guidance and general concerns over the pandemic severely limited the availability of volunteers for the April 7 election. Thousands of Guard members would eventually assist local election officials throughout the year.
Staff Sgt. Sach Zenk, an avionics technician with the 115th Fighter Wing, processes absentee ballots at the Mount Horeb Public Library during the Aug. 11 election. Wisconsin National Guard file photo
“I am incredibly grateful for the selfless dedication of the Wisconsin National Guard,” Gov. Evers said. “Not only have they been a tremendous resource during this unprecedented time in our history, but they have provided tremendous assurance that the state of Wisconsin is doing everything within its power to respond to this health crisis.”
In addition to the real threat the pandemic posed, the Wisconsin National Guard had to answer imagined threats as false rumors began circulating that the Guard was mobilizing to shut down interstate highways and enforce a statewide quarantine.
Leaning forward to support local authorities, the Wisconsin National Guard staffed a distribution warehouse for personal protective equipment, and helped set up and staff a voluntary self-isolation COVID-19 facility in Milwaukee. Soon, Guard members began to staff mobile specimen collection sites across the state, and also operate a call center informing residents if their specimen yielded a positive or negative result.
The 115th Fighter Wing mobilized its fatality search and recovery team in April 2020 to assist medical examiners across the state with mortuary operations. The fighter wing also paid tribute to health care workers and first responders across the state on May 12, 2020 with a flyover consisting of four F-16 Fighting Falcons over the skies of Kenosha, Racine, Milwaukee, Sheboygan, Menasha, Green Bay, Appleton, Oshkosh, Waupaca, Wausau, Marshfield, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Tomah, Reedsburg, Baraboo and Madison. The 128th Air Refueling Wing assisted with the flyover.
Dinh Tran, a social services consultant for Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services who is also working with the specimen collection team in Menominee County, receives a COVID-19 test as a walk-on to the mobile testing facility in Keshena, Wis., May 19, 2020. Testing in Keshena helped members of both the Menominee Nation and Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians receive testing for COVID-19. Wisconsin National Guard file photo
By mid-May, more than 600 Guard members staffed 25 specimen collection teams across the state in support of the state Department of Health Services’ COVID response effort. The call center had placed more than 565,000 calls before Guard members concluded operations in December.
A week before Christmas, the Wisconsin National Guard helped the state manage inventory of the first vaccine shipments to Wisconsin. In the first week of 2021, the Wisconsin National Guard administered its one millionth COVID-19 test — a significant milestone in the state’s testing effort. The Guard, in collaboration with the state Department of Health Services and local health partners, launched a mobile vaccination program Jan. 19. To date, mobile vaccination teams have helped administer approximately 35,000 vaccines statewide.
Spc. Brandon Mueller, a combat medic with Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry Regiment, is helping local communities with their own vaccine sites.
“We’re helping with anything they need, so we can work in the front reception area,” Mueller said. “We can help people through doors. We can help in the observation area. We can do anything that the public health asks us to.
“It feels good being able to serve my community,” he added.
Tech. Sgt. Tyler Schmitz can attest to the diverse assistance the Wisconsin National Guard has provided as part of Wisconsin’s COVID-19 response effort. He helps direct aircraft as a member of the 128th Air Control Squadron at Volk Field, but currently he serves as a mobile vaccination team leader.
“This is definitely outside my vault,” he acknowledged. “I’m assigned to go to different sites such as this one here in Greendale and assign my team to tasks to help out the local health departments accomplish the mission of getting people vaccinated.”
Schmitz has noticed a definite attitude shift between specimen collection sites, where he had previously been assigned, and vaccination sites.
“None of the people coming wanted to really be swabbed,” he said, referring to the technique used to collect a specimen from the back of a person’s throat. “I like the vaccination side just because it’s a lot more cheerful. People are just so much happier to be here. A lot of these over 75, over 65-year-olds, this is the first time they’ve been able to get out of the house and they can get the vaccination, see their families, so I definitely really enjoy this compared to the swab site.”
Spc. Logan Nguyen, a horizontal construction engineer with Company B, 173rd Engineer Battalion, has been part of the Wisconsin National Guard COVID response task force since May 2020.
“It’s been a really important mission,” Nguyen said. “It’s pretty crazy that we’re going past a year in this … I’m glad it’s like the light at the end of the tunnel with vaccines. We’re starting to see the end, towards being normal again.”
Dr. Darrell Williams, Wisconsin Emergency Management administrator, speaks during a March 12 awards ceremony at Joint Force Headquarters in Madison, Wis. The Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs commemorated the one-year anniversary of the Wisconsin National Guard’s mobilization for the state’s pandemic response effort. Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs photo by Vaughn R. Larson
Dr. Darrell Williams, Wisconsin Emergency Management administrator, noted that some of his 29 years of military service were spent with the Wisconsin National Guard.
“I have been incredibly proud to see the Wisconsin National Guard out there, with professionalism at all times, sometimes putting your life on the line to keep Wisconsin safe,” Williams said. “You’ve lived up to your motto, ‘Always Ready, Always There.’”
Maj. Gen. Paul Knapp, Wisconsin’s adjutant general, speaks during a March 12 awards ceremony at Joint Force Headquarters in Madison, Wis. The Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs commemorated the one-year anniversary of the Wisconsin National Guard’s mobilization for the state’s pandemic response effort. Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs photo by Vaughn R. Larson
Knapp likened the Guard response to a marathon.
“We’re getting close to the end,” the adjutant general said, “but we have a few miles left to go.”
