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Ohio

Ohio governor mobilizes 1,050 National Guard troops to ease hospital staff shortages amid COVID-19 surge

National Guardsmen will be treating patients, distributing meals and transporting patients

By Timothy Nerozzi Fox News
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The Ohio National Guard has once again been called into an unconventional battle against COVID-19.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has dispatched over 1,000 national guard troops to aid state hospitals suffering from staff shortages related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

"Governor DeWine mobilized 1,050 members of the Ohio National Guard to help relieve the hospital staffing strain caused by the rising number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients," the governor stated.

FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2020 file photo, Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine discusses the most recent data on Ohio's soaring coronavirus cases during a news briefing at John Glenn International Airport on in Columbus, Ohio. State lawmakers across the country will be convening in 2021 with the continuing COVID-19 pandemic rippling through much of their work — and even affecting the way they work. After 10 months of emergency orders and restrictions from governors and local executive officials, some state lawmakers are eager to reassert their power over statewide decisions shaping the way people shop, work, worship and attend school. (AP Photo/Andrew Welsh-Huggins, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2020 file photo, Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine discusses the most recent data on Ohio's soaring coronavirus cases during a news briefing at John Glenn International Airport on  in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Andrew Welsh-Huggins, File)

OHIO HOSPITALS 'PAUSE' BIDEN VACCINE MANDATE AS COVID PATIENTS STRAIN ICUs

The governor wrote Friday that 150 of the dispatched guard members are medical professionals who will assist directly at hospitals and testing sites.

Approximately 900 of the mobilized troops are largely intended to assist logistical shortages such as transporting patients and helping to distribute meals. 

FILE - In this Thursday, April 8, 2021, file photo, Kent State University student Regan Raeth, of Hudson, Ohio, looks at her vaccination bandage as she waits for 15 minutes after her shot in Kent, Ohio. On Wednesday, May 12, 2021, Gov. Mike DeWine announced the end of the state's mask mandate as new COVID-19 cases decrease and more Ohioans get vaccinated. DeWine said the mask mandate will end June 2 except for nursing homes and assisted living facilities. (AP Photo/Phil Long, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, April 8, 2021, file photo, Kent State University student Regan Raeth, of Hudson, Ohio, looks at her vaccination bandage as she waits for 15 minutes after her shot in Kent, Ohio. On Wednesday, May 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Phil Long, File)

"Earlier in the pandemic, our concern was about beds, about space," DeWine said during a Friday press conference. "Today, it is about personnel."

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Ohio hospitals are "pausing" the vaccine mandate for health care workers as the hospitalization rate for COVID-19 patients statewide drastically soars – though most facilities there still support the Biden administration's federal mandate, which is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.  

OhioHealth – a system of 12 hospitals across the state of Ohio – rejected that the pause of the mandate for its employees was due solely to staffing shortages, as spokesman Colin Yoder told Fox News Digital that its "more do to the things going through the legislature and the courts right now." 

Fox News' Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

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