Governor Gavin Newsom has activated the California National Guard to support local communities with additional testing facilities and capacity.

The announcement comes amid the national surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the Omicron variant. According to the Governor's Office, the Guards activation is on top of the existing 6,000 testing sites that have been set up across the state. The National Guard plans on deploying 200 guard members across 50 OptumServe sites around the state providing interim clinical staff while permanent staff is hired. This will add capacity for walk-ins and back-filling for staff absences.