The National Guard descended upon Douglas Monday in response to the COVID-19 quarantine – as a part of a cleaning operation.
A 15-member team from Guard units all over the state, led by SMSgt. Genell Wright (an assistant principal from Atlanta with over 30 years’ experience in public education in civilian life), spent a few hours at Lakeside Senior Living sanitizing the facility in an effort to stop the coronavirus, the bug that causes the dangerous COVID-19 illness, from infecting residents and staff.
Retirement and nursing homes have been hit especially hard by COVID-19, and many facilities throughout the country have seen the disease run roughshod throughout the homes. The National Guard team cleaned high traffic areas such as light switches, counter tops, doorknobs, and the like, providing an extra layer of protection for everyone in the facility. “We enjoy being able to help. Many of us have family members in homes like Lakeside and we know what it’s like for families to worry about their relatives. This has been an awesome experience. We have an awesome team,” said SMSgt. Wright.
Cleaning Lakeside took about two hours. After finishing, the team headed to The Landings to clean that facility. Last Thursday, county fire chief Steve Carver said another National Guard team cleaned Vista Park as well. Each Guard team is responsible for six sites. When they finish the sites, which takes a week to a week and a half, they return to the first site and start all over again. “The Douglas-Coffee County community sure thanks y’all for what y’all are doing here,” said Chief Carver.