New Yorks governor announced Tuesday he is sending the National Guard into a New York City suburb to help fight what is believed to be the nations biggest cluster of coronavirus cases one of the most dramatic actions yet to control the outbreak in the U.S.

The move came as health authorities contended with alarming concentrations of the disease on both sides of the country and scattered cases in between.

Schools, houses of worship and large gathering places will be shuttered for two weeks in a containment area centered in New Rochelle, and the troops will scrub surfaces and deliver food to the zone, which extends a mile in all directions from a point near a synagogue connected to some of the cases, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

It is a dramatic action, but it is the largest cluster of cases in the country, Cuomo said. The numbers are going up unabated, and we do need a special public health strategy.

New Rochelle is at the center of an outbreak of 108 cases in Westchester County, out of 173 identified statewide. New York City has 36 cases, while its population is more than 100 times that of New Rochelle.