January 19, 2022 4:00 a.m.

Members of the Oregon National Guard started their second hospital relief mission on Tuesday.

The new activation places approximately 1,200 Oregon Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen supporting up to 40 hospitals throughout the state.

Since January 10th, the Guard has stood up a Joint Task Force of Air and Army National Guardsmen to support this latest hospital effort. Over the past several days, the Guard activated nearly 500 Oregon Service Members from 6 locations throughout the state, to support the medical facilities.

Stephen Bomar of the Oregon Military Department said the Guard will further increase support by approximately 700 additional Service Members over the next 2 weeks, further bolstering non-clinical hospital staff roles through the forecasted COVID-19 Omicron variant peak over the next 30 days.

Bomar said the activation follows a successful prior deployment of over 1,500 Oregon National Guardsmen that provided the same non-clinical support rolls staffed from last August through the end of December.