COLUMBUS, Ohio — Tuesday, the governor unveiled a plan to protect Ohio’s most vulnerable— those living in congregate settings, specifically, nursing homes.  

“Our capacity is going up and so we’re going to continue to push that capacity up. As the Guard goes out, our testing is going to have to continue that capacity to go up, so we’re in a position now to do it," said Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.

Governor Mike DeWine is enlisting the help of the national guard to test all nursing home patients and staff in the State of Ohio.

Starting this week, 14 teams will fan out across Ohio to tackle the job. 

“My only order to our team has been to deploy resources we have as quickly as we have and to focus on the goal of saving the most lives that we can,” DeWine said. 

But the state has seen a disconnect in the amount of testing capacity and the number of tests actually administered.

Earlier this month, Ohio was on track to conduct 22,000 tests a day.

In reality, Ohio's logging 8,000-10,000 tests a day.

DeWine says he hopes the Guard will help fill those gaps.

This ramp-up comes amid a huge spike in cases over the weekend— with 529 new cases in the last 24 hours alone.

This, as businesses and restaurants continue opening their doors. 

“No, I'm not comfortable. I dont think anybody in my position could be comfortable. We’re going to watch these numbers,” said DeWine.