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NEW ROCHELLE – Members of the National Guard tried to stay warm in their fatigues as families walked up to their tent outside New Rochelle High School on a gray, windy morning.

Adults grabbed a bag of food for their household — items such as rice, soup and pancake mix — while each child scooped up a bag with small containers of cereal, milk and cereal bars.

This was the scene today at the sprawling campus that was otherwise quiet as thousands of students are kept out of three of the city's schools in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus.

About 270 members of the National Guard are in Westchester County, where there were 128 confirmed coronavirus cases of Wednesday afternoon, to help residents in the containment area, a circle with a one-mile radius around the epicenter of New York's coronavirus outbreak, National Guard Brigadier General Michel Natali said today at a food distribution tent outside New Rochelle High School.

A testing site run by Northwell Health was being set up at Glen Island Park this morning. It's expected to begin taking patients on Friday, a New York State Police spokesman said on Thursday. Questions for Northwell Health were referred to New York State officials, which didn't have immediate comment.

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Those members of the Air National Guard and Army National Guard are performing various tasks, including about 30 airmen and soldiers working in the county's call center in Hawthorne and the rest distributing food or handling other responsibilities related to logistics as authorities throughout the area coordinate efforts.

Natali said details on National Guard members helping with cleaning and disinfecting facilities in the community have not been ironed out yet. It's unclear how long they will be in Westchester, he said.

"We're always ready to do missions of this nature," Natali said. "We really relish the opportunity to come out, because our soldiers are all members of the community. They've all had to take time off from work or leave school, so we're really proud that we get to support our communities that we're a part of."

Natali, based in Latham, outside Albany, said National Guard members have arrived in Westchester from throughout the state, including some locally. They are staying at Camp Smith in Cortlandt.

Today Feeding Westcester dropped off food at the high school, New Rochelle CAP at 95 Lincoln Ave., the New Rochelle Municipal Housing Authority at 345 Main St., and the Tuckahoe Community Center at 71 Columbus Ave., Natali said.

Feeding Westchester spokeswoman Jenna Russo said the organization began preparing for this weeks ago and was contacted this week by the state Department of Health.

The group started packing thousands of bags of food for families that rely on free or reduced breakfast and lunch for their children. About 4,000 breakfast bags were also provided to help fill the gap, Russo said.

"As the county’s leading hunger-relief organization, we are anticipating greater need across Westchester County and are bringing in additional resources, including from Feeding America," she said. "We are looking into how we can get ahead of this proactively by getting food into people’s homes now. We’re looking for donations to get this done. This is all happening so fast."

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At the high school, Natali said, "These happen on short notice a lot, so we're always prepared to support."

Staff Sgt. Raymel Romero and six other members of the National Guard had handed out about 15 family food packs and 50 children's breakfast bags by about 9:30 a.m. outside the school.

"It's no big deal, to be honest," the Brooklyn native said. "We're just giving out food. It's nothing to really bat an eye. We're just here to serve."

About a mile south of the school campus, outside of the containment area, Daniel Bonnet was organizing National Guard members and other workers at New Rochelle CAP's office at 95 Lincoln Ave.

Bonnet is the director of the community action program, which is part of WestCOP, or the Westchester Community Opportunity Program.

Staffers of WestCOP's community action programs help local residents combat poverty, crime, homelessness and hunger, according to its website. They help impoverished people with food, job support, clothing and furniture, education, and other support they might need.

The packages, which workers were lining up on tables outside the building, were meant to feed a family of four for three days, Bonnet said, adding that the group's priority was to provide food for about 2,800 students who qualify for free and reduced price lunch.

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But he said, "Any family that feels that they can benefit from this opportunity from these goods, they are more than welcome to come down."

The area's first resident to have tested positive for the virus is a New Rochelle man who works as a lawyer in Manhattan. He is a congregant of Young Israel of New Rochelle, which was used as the center for a containment area with a one-mile radius where authorities are focusing on stopping the spread of the virus.

Within that circle, schools are closed and large gatherings are banned for two weeks.

Matt Spillane covers breaking news throughout the Lower Hudson Valley. Click here for his latest stories. Follow him on Twitter @MattSpillane. Check out our latest subscription offers here.