The Hawaii National Guard is requesting thousands of sets of “personal protective equipment” for the coronavirus outbreak, but the state has a slower pace of infection than much of the nation and the Guard is not — yet — in a “crisis mode,” said Brig. Gen. Moses Kaoiwi.

Kaoiwi, director of the Guard’s joint staff, said protective gear including gloves, masks, goggles and overgarments is being requested based on some of the missions citizen soldiers might be performing in the future.

“Again, we’re not in a crisis mode right now, but we really do need a supply of PPE that can be replaced,” Kaoiwi told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Wednesday.

The request for thousands of sets of gear stems from the short-term use of items such as masks and gloves, he said.

Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, the state adjutant general, was previously named “incident commander” of Hawaii’s coronavirus response.

So far, fewer than 50 Hawaii National Guard members have been activated for coronavirus duty, and those individuals are on the Guard’s planning staff looking at requirements and working with the state Department of Transportation and Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, Kaoiwi said.

“We’ll see how the testing goes,” he said. With social distancing, “if we follow that, I think we’ll be fine — now ‘fine’ meaning, yeah, we’re going to get some sick people and we’re going to have to address that issue. But I think it’s going to be manageable, and if we need federal assistance, then we’re not going to have an issue.”

Sixteen cases of COVID-19 were reported in Hawaii as of Wednesday — none from community spread.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Tuesday that up to five million N95 respirator masks and other personal protective equipment were being made available from its strategic reserves to the Department of Health and Human Services for distribution.

The Defense Department also is prepared to distribute to HHS up to 2,000 deployable ventilators for use as needed.

“These machines are different from their civilian equivalents and require special training to operate, but we are committed to supporting HHS’s requirements in any way we can,” Esper said at a news briefing.

The department also has made its 14 coronavirus testing labs available to test non-DOD personnel as well, with two additional labs coming online.

Additionally, Esper on Wednesday told CNN that the Pentagon is offering up mobile field hospitals “geared toward trauma. And what we can do is provide space in local hospitals (for coronavirus cases) by peeling off their trauma patients and putting them through our field hospitals.”

Kaoiwi said such a request for Hawaii would have to come from U.S. Indo-Pacific Command at Camp H.M. Smith — if the need occurs.

“As we get towards a potential situation where that would be required, then we’d probably look at a dual-­status commander situation,” where the National Guard and active duty side partner together for unity of effort, he said.

The Hawaii National Guard has about 5,500 troops. Availability will be evaluated as to not call up medical providers, police and firefighters whose skills are needed on the civilian side.

There may be a need at some point to use Guard personnel for security, traffic control points and with whatever screening processes might occur. Kaoiwi said he’s not expecting, at this point anyway, the need for significant assistance from the active duty military.

That’s a function of determining “when the virus gets so bad — or if it does … that we’re going to need a larger response with I guess active duty assistance,” he said. “But right now, from what I’m looking at where we are, we haven’t reached that point yet.”