{"id":400421,"date":"2021-01-26T06:55:47","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T14:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=400421"},"modified":"2025-05-08T16:45:47","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T23:45:47","slug":"south-carolina-guard-guides-covid19-missions","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/south-carolina-guard-guides-covid19-missions","title":{"rendered":"South Carolina National Guard Ramps Up Vaccine Support after a Year of COVID-19"},"author":941,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[731],"tags":[430851,160522,296652,295342,386582],"industry":[],"esri-blog-category":[491702],"esri_blog_department":[478192],"class_list":["post-400421","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-covid-19","tag-health","tag-national-guard","tag-south-carolina","tag-vaccinations","esri-blog-category-health","esri_blog_department-gis-for-good"],"acf":{"video_source":"","video_start":"","video_stop":"","short_description":"South Carolina has gained greater awareness of COVID-19 from spatial analysts at its National Guard who have created maps, apps, and dashboards.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"The civilian GIS team at the South Carolina National Guard has been busy\u2014and gained a following\u2014by analyzing COVID-19 trends and forecasting needs.\r\n\r\nKey Takeaways\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The National Guard uses GIS to guide operations and monitor its own activity across the state.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Spatial analysis is helping leaders and planners respond and prepare.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Lessons learned are quickly being applied to the state\u2019s vaccine distribution mission.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n(<em>Editor\u2019s note<\/em>: Mention of Esri and its products and services does not constitute an endorsement by South Carolina National Guard.)","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The South Carolina National Guard has been deployed for over 300 days supporting the state's COVID-19 pandemic response efforts. In South Carolina, as with the rest of the world, there\u2019s great urgency to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine quickly to bring an end to the pandemic. To that purpose, the leadership and troops are supporting vaccine administration in the state after having worked on related missions\u2014distributing food and personal protective equipment (PPE), aiding correctional facilities, and supporting mobile testing sites.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe South Carolina National Guard recently added mobile vaccination sites to our capabilities,\u201d said US Army Major General Brad Owens, Assistant Adjutant General overseeing all of the South Carolina National Guard COVID-19 response.\u00a0\u201cWe recognize that the faster we expand the public\u2019s access to the vaccine, the sooner we can begin to see a reduction in the number of COVID-19 cases in the state\u2014our healthcare infrastructure, economy, and overall way of life in South Carolina is depending on it.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn addition to providing medical and logistical expertise, heavy equipment, and on-the-ground personnel, the South Carolina National Guard has engaged its analysts to guide COVID-19 response by using a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/what-is-gis\/overview\">geographic information system (GIS)<\/a> to create maps, dashboards, and perform <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/arcgis\/products\/spatial-analytics-data-science\/overview\">spatial analysis<\/a>.\r\n\r\n\u201cInitially vaccines are controlled at the hospital level,\u201d said US Army Lieutenant Colonel Garrick Messer, MD, South Carolina Army National Guard State Surgeon. \u201cWhen we\u2019re ready to start vaccinating the entire public, we\u2019ll look at high-risk populations that should get the vaccine first. We\u2019ll overlap that with case data to get down to the nitty-gritty on where to locate vaccination sites.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe approach to vaccine distribution will follow a model similar to that of COVID-19 testing and medical supply distribution. \u201cOne of the first questions we asked was 'where are the high-risk populations across the state?'\u201d Messer said. \u201cWe looked at health factors such as diabetes and heart disease, access to care, those on Medicare.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[400541,400531,400521,400511]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"When the pandemic hit in 2020, civilian GIS professionals Christy Jacobs and Kevin Haynes used GIS to create maps and dashboards to study many factors across four regions of the state\u2014Lowcountry, PeeDee, Midlands, and Upstate\u2014as well as individual counties to identify potential problem areas. Armed with that analysis, troops and medical teams were prepared when a surge hit the PeeDee region in the summer of 2020. They knew which areas had the fewest number of hospital beds per person and the highest risk populations in the state, and they quickly dispatched medics where they were needed most.\r\n<h3><strong>Operational Experience<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nSouth Carolina National Guard leadership has used GIS for more than 30 years for hurricane response, emergency situations, and even in combat.\r\n\r\n\u201cI was in Iraq in 2003 and 2004 in Al Anbar province\u2014Fallujah and Ramadi\u2014keeping the electrical grid safe and secure,\u201d Owens said. \u201cThat province is bigger than the state of Texas, so it was quite a chore. GIS was used to see and reference impacts across the province, which was essential.\u201d\r\n\r\nGIS provides a similar situational awareness for South Carolina in its COVID-19 response.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe only way we can sustain the fight is for us to have dynamic disease modeling,\u201d Owens said. \u201cUsing the input from the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], DHEC [South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control], and our own inputs has allowed us to really synchronize, collaborate, and coordinate the operation.\u201d\r\n\r\nSpatial analysis has been a key part of the South Carolina National Guard\u2019s pivot from being expert emergency responders, responding mainly to storms, to its longer-term role as pandemic responders."},{"acf_fc_layout":"quote","image":400441,"text":"I\u2019m being briefed three times a week, but I\u2019ve relied on that dashboard almost hourly for more than 300 days.","author_name":"Major General Stephen B. (Brad) Owens","author_profession_organization":"Assistant Adjutant General overseeing all of the South Carolina National Guard COVID-19 response"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"\u201cWe're good at hurricanes. We can alert 1,700 Soldiers in a couple hours and we can reverse lanes and move everybody off the coast in a matter of 36 hours,\u201d Owens said. \u201cFor the pandemic, we\u2019ve had to very quickly get to know some new partners.\u201d\r\n<h3><strong>Knowing Hospital Capacity<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nHospitals in South Carolina share details on capacity and bed usage in a central system. Jacobs, the South Carolina National Guard GIS program manager, led an effort to extract information from this source and display it on a shared dashboard.\r\n\r\n\u201cMultiple state agencies and outside entities are using the dashboard to determine which hospitals are reaching critical capacity and may be in need of assistance,\u201d Jacobs said."},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[401781,400471,401761,400481,401771]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Haynes, a GIS manager on Jacobs\u2019s team, conducted a <a href=\"https:\/\/pro.arcgis.com\/en\/pro-app\/latest\/tool-reference\/space-time-pattern-mining\/learnmorecreatecube.htm\">space-time-pattern<\/a> analysis to monitor counties where COVID-19 cases were increasing. The state COVID-19 task force, the hospital association, and county emergency managers all use the analysis and the corresponding hot spot map to monitor the spatial and temporal trends, such as where cases are increasing and decreasing.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe used it to know when we could withdraw our medics from the hospitals, when they were past their peak surge, and we\u2019re about to use it again to identify if we need to go back into some hospitals,\u201d Messer said.\r\n\r\nDuring the first surge, time was also spent determining possible alternate care facilities if hospitals had reached capacity.\r\n\r\n\u201cBack in July, when we hit the first peak, Christy Jacobs and the team did a fantastic job of identifying alternate care sites that we could open,\u201d Owens said. \u201cWith the second wave coming through, we are still referring to that list.\u201d\r\n<h3><strong>Delivering Testing Sites<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nAnother large spatial analysis project that Jacobs and her small team tackled was to determine the best sites to conduct COVID-19 testing across the state.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe used <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/arcgis\/products\/arcgis-business-analyst\/overview\">ArcGIS Business Analyst<\/a> to conduct a site suitability analysis on every single county,\"\u00a0Jacobs said,\u00a0\"and provided the county emergency managers and the hospital association with the best locations for community testing sites.\"\r\n\r\nSince then, the National Guard set up an average of 20 testing sites each day, tearing them down, and moving to the next location. It has completed more than 800 testing site missions so far.\r\n\r\n\u201cBeing a state with a large rural population, we have to ensure that we provide adequate and accessible testing,\u201d Owens said. \u201cGIS allows us to know where our hot spots are, where we\u2019ve been, and where we need to go.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[401141,401131,401121,401711]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"In addition to an interactive health app, Jacobs and her team also created a dashboard that contains details about South Carolina National Guard missions, troop status, hospital status, vaccine locations, and relevant COVID-19 information. The dashboard is where they keep tabs on testing and how they share details with the South Carolina Emergency Management Division (EMD). The dashboard has been in place for some time, initially just focusing on hurricanes. Now, the data it displays has expanded as the demand for South Carolina National Guard troops has grown.\r\n\r\n\u201cI\u2019m being briefed three times a week, but I\u2019ve relied on that dashboard almost hourly for more than 300 days,\u201d Owens said.\r\n<h3><strong>Overcoming Privacy Concerns<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nMany agencies and decision-makers in the state have witnessed the power of spatial analysis for the first time during the pandemic. The local-level insights often have seemed too good to be true. Questions about privacy and personal health information arose in consideration of all the big data and predictive analysis in play.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe had to take a step back and obtain legal opinions on data use,\u201d Jacobs said.\r\n\r\nThe pause was a big bump in the road, but it gave Jacobs and her team time to put data use agreements in place between different state agencies, the hospitals, and anywhere else they obtained or shared data. In the heat of the first wave, it was a matter of trust. Jacobs also took a close look at data layers and set rules about which layers can be placed on top of each other to create maps.\r\n\r\n\u201cWith COVID-19, data is evolving every single day, and we're making new data layers every single day,\u201d Jacobs said. \u201cWe're compiling hundreds of data layers. We have data on prisons and nursing homes, schools, and manufacturing facilities. We have so much data out there now that we have to be safe and be aware of the privacy concerns.\u201d\r\n\r\nAfter the lawyer\u2019s analysis, no data use and sharing concerns were identified, and the GIS team went back to work.\r\n\r\n\u201cNothing we\u2019ve done released personal health information because the most micro we have gotten in our analysis is at the ZIP code level,\u201d Messer said. \u201cWe\u2019ve just used the data and analysis in a different format than people have been used to, a format that\u2019s easier to tell a story.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":402672,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2021\/01\/SCNG_COVID19_Dashboard.png"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h3><strong>Preparedness and Planning for the Future<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThroughout all phases of response and for ongoing missions, the use of GIS has gained momentum.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt took time for the planners to realize the valuable resource that GIS had become in terms of the maps, dashboards, and analysis,\u201d Messer said. \u201cNow, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a briefing where we\u2019re not using tools or data analytics from Christy Jacobs and her team.\u201d\r\n\r\nWith a focus on vaccine distribution and ending the pandemic, it\u2019s too soon to look back on response efforts. However, Owens and others have long noted the value of situational awareness in any crisis.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe always say that we're going to analyze the past, we're going to anticipate the future, we're going to partner in the present, and then we're going to celebrate our heroes at the end,\u201d Owens said. \u201cWhen we analyze the past, we quickly fall back on the need to have a common operating picture with shared situational awareness.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe crisis management capabilities of GIS have opened some eyes to how it can be used on an ongoing basis.\r\n\r\n\u201cI never knew about GIS before all this, and it\u2019s a whole new data-driven way of looking at COVID-19,\u201d Messer said. \u201cAt this point, it\u2019s the only way we look at it.\u201d\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nLearn more about how\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/health\/overview\">understanding the impacts of place leads to better health<\/a>. If you have recently been vaccinated, add your face to the <a href=\"https:\/\/esriurl.com\/IGotVaccinated\">I Got Vaccinated\u00a0map<\/a>\u00a0to mark the momentum."}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>South Carolina National Guard Uses GIS to Guide COVID-19 Missions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"South Carolina has gained a greater awareness of COVID-19 from spatial analysts at its National Guard who created maps, apps and dashboards.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/south-carolina-guard-guides-covid19-missions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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