More than 152,000 Department of Veterans Affairs patients and staff became infected by the coronavirus in 2020 and more than 6,600 died.
As of Dec. 31, VA recorded 152,356 total coronavirus cases among patients and staff across its national healthcare system since the pandemic began, and 6,609 deaths, including at least 95 employees.
The department cares for a total of more than 9 million veterans, roughly half of the veterans in the United States, and has nearly 400,000 employees.
More than 22 VA patients have died per day since the department recorded its first veteran lost to the coronavirus pandemic on March 14, though VA has released little, if any, information on the patients and staff who have died.
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The number of deaths increased sharply since mid-October, when VA averaged about 17 patients lost per day to complications of COVID-19, roughly equal to the number of veterans who die by suicide daily, according to department data.
That change is due largely to a surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths at VA hospitals across the country. In November, VA more than doubled its previous record for the number of patients actively sick from the virus and on Dec. 11, the department reached a peak of 17.757 active cases before VA's public-facing data went dark for more than 10 days.
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VA recorded more than 1,000 patient deaths in November, but deaths spiked even higher in December and the department will close out the year with more than 1,500 deaths this month, the deadliest so far.
VA said previously that the number of deaths recorded in a given month may not be a fully accurate account of those who died that month, since data may lag behind, sometimes by weeks.
While VA has recorded a significant spike in total number of patients who have died because of the virus, VA's mortality rate continues to decrease. In October, it was about 5.5%. By the end of December, it reached about 4.3%, which is still significantly higher than the about 1.7% for Americans overall, according to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Earlier during the pandemic, VA's mortality rate reached a high of nearly 6.8%.
VA's mortality rate is influenced by the age and overall health of its patients, who tend to be older and less healthy than the overall American population.
Since VA cares for about half of the roughly 18 million veterans in America, its numbers are representative only of those in its care and do not include veterans who receive care elsewhere or who do not qualify for VA health care.
VA's publicly available data also includes its staff and some non-veteran patients the department treated as part of its Fourth Mission. VA recorded 21 staff deaths in December, for a total of 95 during the pandemic in 2020 and making December the deadliest month for staff, too.
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Active cases falling
After reaching a peak in mid-December, active cases have fallen about 40% to just under 11,000 as of Dec. 31. VA hadn't seen active cases that low since mid-November. But active cases are still more than twice what VA recorded in October.
The active virus surge patterns appear to generally reflect similar increases in active cases across the country, and VA Press Secretary Christina Noel said trends in new cases at the department typically follow those nationally and in local communities.
VA's active cases are still 228% higher than they were on Oct. 1, though the decrease is a hopeful sign following week after week of surging cases.
VA officials have repeatedly cited the percentage of patients who require hospitalization as the most reliable judge of how patients are faring amid the pandemic, and that number has consistently fallen since a height of 38% in March to 12% in November. But the total number of patients hospitalized also is increasing. In the latest of VA's weekly pandemic response reports for Dec. 22-28, the department reported 1,380 COVID-19 inpatients, up nearly 128% since the beginning of November.
The top 10 VA health systems with the most active cases as 2020 draws to a close are: Long Beach, California (339); North Chicago (315); Loma Linda, California (287); Cleveland, Ohio (264); Los Angeles (249); Phoenix (240); San Antonio (216); San Diego (200); Middle Tennessee (197); and Temple, Texas (196).
The VA health systems that have recorded the most deaths during the pandemic include those in Minneapolis, Cleveland, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Texas and Boston. Those with the most confirmed cases were North Chicago; Cleveland; Phoenix; San Antonio; Orlando; Minneapolis; Atlanta; Houston; Columbia, South Carolina; and Gainesville, Florida.
As of Dec. 28, VA said it had administered more than 1.14 million COVID-19 tests.
Vaccines
Earlier this month, VA received its first shipments of the first two coronavirus vaccines approved in the United States. The first veteran to receive a vaccine at VA was a female World War II veteran.
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VA initially rolled out the Pfizer vaccine to 37 locations and expanded to 128 more of its medical centers when the Moderna vaccine was approved.
As of Dec. 30, the department announced it had administered more than 55,000 total doses of the two-dose regimen vaccines, more than 50,000 to healthcare workers and more than 5,000 to high-risk veterans.
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According to its vaccine plan, VA is administering doses to frontline healthcare workers and veterans in its community living centers and spinal chord injury/disorder centers first to protect those most at risk and prevent further spread.
But VA leaders admitted to Congress earlier this month that initial supplies would fall woefully short of the millions of vaccines the department will need for all veterans who need or want it, along with thousands of staff.
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Despite the severely limited supplies of the vaccine, internal VA communications obtained by Connecting Vets earlier this month showed the department's plans to waste additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine from overfilled vials containing as many as one to two extra full doses, specifically despite Food and Drug Administration authorization. VA also did not plan to track the doses it discarded.
Following Connecting Vets' report, VA announced it had reversed its decision and would follow FDA authorization for the use of additional full doses found in individual vials.
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In emails to veterans in recent weeks, VA has asked for volunteers for further study of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which could become the next approved in the United States. VA is asking especially for veterans of color, or those older than 65 -- populations at particular risk, according to department data.
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“I couldn’t be happier with the work VA employees are doing in taking this important first step toward the end of the pandemic,” VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said in a statement Dec. 30 about vaccine distribution so far. “Successfully implementing a plan like this in the nation’s largest health care system takes planning, collaboration and teamwork. As vaccines become more widely available, we will continue to implement our plan to offer them to any veteran or employee who wants one at no cost.”
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Reach Abbie Bennett: abbie@connectingvets.com or @AbbieRBennett. Sign up for the Connecting Vets weekly newsletter to get more stories like this delivered to your inbox.
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