Texas Governor Deploys More Coronavirus-Fighting Medical Units

AUSTIN, TX — Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday announced the deployment of more military resources to parts of Texas toward helping fight the coronavirus spread.

The governor said the U.S. Department of Defense has activated additional U.S. Army Urban Augmentation Medical Task Forces to assist the state's efforts to combat COVID-19. At the governor's request and as part of a whole-of-nation approach, one medical task force arrived in San Antonio on July 6, an additional task force arrived in Texas to support the Houston region today and four medical units, along with a U.S. Navy Acute Care Team and four U.S. Navy Rapid Rural Response teams, will be deployed to additional locations across Texas as identified by ongoing assessments.

The teams consist of medical and support professionals which are being deployed to support medical needs in hospitals throughout the state, the governor explained in a prepared statement.

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"Our ongoing partnership with the federal government is crucial to meeting the medical needs of Texans as we combat COVID-19 in our communities," Abbott said. "Texas is grateful to the U.S. Department of Defense as well as President Trump and Vice President Pence for providing these additional resources and for working alongside our communities to keep Texans safe and mitigate the spread of this virus."

Related stories:

• Texas Coronavirus Count Exceeds 264K, 43 New Deaths
• Coronavirus-Fighting Federal Resources Headed For Houston

The move comes as illness rates have soared exponentially since Abbott launched an aggressive economic reopening starting May 1. In so doing, Texas became the second state to jump-start its economy by allowing businesses to reopen one week after Georgia launched a similar effort.

On Monday, the historical illness count crossed the 264,000 mark, and 43 more people died of the respiratory illness. The illness uptick came after 5,655 additional cases of the coronavirus emerged across the state. The fatality count now stands at 3,235 since the onset of illness across the state.