As coronavirus deaths nationwide surpassed 445,000, the Veterans Affairs (VA) medical system — which includes both care homes and health care centers — exceeded 9,200 deaths, an increase of 635 in the past week. Those 9,245 deaths include only veterans diagnosed at VA hospitals and medical centers.
Since the pandemic began in mid-March, 121 workers in 69 facilities have died. The total includes six workers in the VA’s New Jersey Health Care System, with campuses in East Orange and Lyons; five in Indianapolis; and four each at facilities in Denver, central Alabama, Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Louisville, Kentucky.
The VA has recorded more than 209,000 COVID-19 cases in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. That’s an increase of 7,914 cases in a week, for a total of 209,765 cumulative cases as of Tuesday.
A cluster of three VA facilities in the Los Angeles area has up to 8,909 cases — the most nationwide — adding 447 in a week. Cases in the New York City area during the same period rose by 111, to 4,729. Three centers in the Chicago area also showed a rise in cases (105 additional), bringing their total to 8,035.
Two VA centers in South Carolina added 310 cases in seven days, for a total of 6,102. In Florida, two centers in the Tampa area have reached 4,951 cases, adding 213 since Jan. 26. Two centers in the Miami region have 3,248 cases, adding 124 during the same time. Two Boston-area VA health care centers that had surging numbers early in the pandemic added 99 cases, for a total of 2,479.
Fewer recently diagnosed veterans are dying than in the early days of the U.S. outbreaks, in part because doctors and researchers have learned more about how coronavirus infections behave. When patients do die, it generally doesn’t occur until about 18 days after symptoms appear, according to March studies of early COVID-19 cases in China.
Among individual health care centers, Cleveland tops the case count, at 4,172 — 114 more than on Jan. 26 — and it has the 10th-highest number of active cases (196, a decrease of 65 from one week ago). Atlanta has the most active cases, with 283, which is 29 fewer than on Jan. 26. The Columbia health care center in South Carolina has the second-highest number of active cases, at 257 (52 fewer), and the facility in Temple, Texas, is third in active cases, with 249 (24 more).
Nearly 9 in 10 of the VA’s COVID-19 patients across the country are 14 days beyond their last positive test or have been home from the hospital for at least two weeks, the agency reports.
Additional VA medical centers with more than 3,000 confirmed cases are:
Cleveland, with 4,172 (114 more cases than on Jan. 26); Phoenix, with 3,808 (181 more); San Antonio, with 3,712 (152 more); Atlanta, with 3,518 (162 more); Orlando, Florida, with 3,383 (150 more); Houston, with 3,309 (150 more); Dallas, with 3,244 (169 more); Gainesville, Florida, with 3,160 (128 more); and Middle Tenneesee, with 3,111 (141 more).
Read More: VA Coronavirus Deaths Top 9,200; Cases Are Above 209,000