The General Guard’s general also confirms that less than 200 guards obtained COVID-19.
As many as 7,000 National Guards will remain in Washington for another seven weeks to help federal police agencies interested in possible internal unrest, the Guard’s top general said.
“We’re probably looking at mid-March right now,” General Daniel Hokanson told reporters Saturday.
The size of this force can be adjusted based on requests from local law enforcement agencies, he added. Federal authorities will decide whether the remaining guards will remain armed.
A U.S. official told ABC News that agencies saw “talks” between extremist groups discussing possible riots in the country’s capital.
As for the troops that make up the 7,000, Hokanson added, “Some of them will be the ones already here. Some states will really change other people, and we’re working very closely with states to determine the next one.”
Hokanson made his comments as he made his daily visit with the guards who secured the Capitol. In the Capitol Visitors Center space, he also met with Indiana and Virginia guards, who were taking a short break, and asked them if they were getting everything they needed.
On Friday, guards were once again allowed to use the facility during rest periods following the public outcry generated by photos showing them resting inside an unheated garage. The use of the garage occurred after asking the guard to stop using interior sites on the Capitol grounds.
Hokanson also confirmed that less than 200 of the 25,000 national guards who provided security on the day of the inauguration had contracted COVID-19, an infection rate of less than 1%.
“We do everything we can, but we think that number is low,” Hokanson said. The infected guards will remain in Washington while they are ill, as some of the 25,000 who were available on Inauguration Day began returning to their home states on Saturday.