Army sending Medical Task Force to help fight COVID-19 in Houston

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Hundreds of medical personnel from the military are headed to Texas to help take care of COVID-19 patients.

580 military medical personnel are being sent by U.S. Northern Command, according to the U.S. Army.

The additional resources include an Urban Augmentation Medical Task Force from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) that will arrive in Houston today and a Disaster Medical Assistance Team from U.S. Health and Human Services that has just been deployed.

These resources add to a DOD Task Force that recently began operating in Bexar County, as well as seven federal assessment teams operating in Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, McAllen, Laredo and El Paso this past week.

"Texas is grateful to the federal government as well as the president and vice president for working swiftly to provide additional resources to the state as we work to mitigate COVID-19 and care for our fellow Texans," Gov. Greg Abbott said. "We will continue to work with our local and federal partners to ensure all resources and needs are met throughout the state."

The video in the post in from a previous story.