Illinois National Guard Squashes Wild Rumors
There are a lot of rumors going around about the Illinois National Guard being activated to enforce a quarantine in Chicago or other areas of the state. Some even have video of a train moving military equipment near the city.
The Illinois National Guard confirmed with their logistics officer that they haven’t had trains moving Illinois National Guard equipment through Chicago in more than a month. These are not their vehicles. The military moves equipment all the time. This has nothing to do with COVID-19 response.
The Illinois National Guard has activated 60 troops for COVID-19 response so far. The majority of these (about 45) are medical with the mission of setting up a drive-through screening site. The rest are planners, including medical planners, and liaison officers.
They have liaison officers embedded with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and the Illinois Department of Public Health. There has been NO discussion of using the Illinois National Guard to enforce a quarantine. There has been discussion of transportation, food distribution, construction (renovating mothballed hospitals to make them functional again or building temporary hospital space) and a few other missions – but nothing about quarantining the city of Chicago or shutting down highways or any of the other wild rumors that have been circulating! People are understandably anxious about coronavirus. They will let people know as troops are activated for additional missions.
Please remember, the National Guard is a community-based organization. They are your neighbors, your friends, your relatives, your co-workers – they are you. We’re all in this together and we’ll get through it together. Stay safe!
Idiots spreading rumors are only feeding fire to the already out of control panic……