Boy Scouts and other groups banned from planting American flags on veterans' graves due to coronavirus
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone joins ‘America’s News HQ.’
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The Department of Veterans Affairs reported 1,012 deaths related to the coronavirus pandemic.
The agency also reported Monday more than 12,000 VA patients have contracted COVID-19 since early March.
“VA grieves for all of the veterans and loved ones affected by this heartbreaking situation,” agency spokeswoman Christina Noel said.
There are 9.5 million veterans enrolled in VA care.
CORONAVIRUS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Veterans homes have also been hit hard by the virus in many states.
Outrage builds over the death of more than 70 veterans sickened by the coronavirus at a home in Massachusetts. State and federal officials have been investigating the deaths at the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke, where additional veterans and staff members tested positive for the virus. It’s one of the deadliest known outbreaks at long-term care facilities in the U.S.
Noel said, “While there is always room to improve VA processes and procedures, the department does not run, manage or have control over the operations of state Veterans homes.”
”That responsibility lies with individual states, and for questions about the performance of state-run Veterans homes, we refer you to individual states,” she said in an email.
Veterans homes are owned and operated by the states, but the VA pays for veterans to receive care and inspects them each year to ensure they are up to the agency’s standards.
A 2019 Government Accountability Office review found that the VA did not regularly monitor the performance of its contractor doing the inspections. As a result, the “VA does not know whether, or to what extent, VA’s contractor needs to improve its ability to identify [state veterans homes’] compliance with quality standards, which increases the possibility that quality concerns in some SVHs could go overlooked, potentially placing veterans at risk,” according to the report.
More than 4.7 million people worldwide have tested positive for the virus and over 318,000 deaths have been recorded, including about 90,000 in the U.S. and over 160,000 in Europe, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Those figures are believed to understate the true dimensions of the outbreak because of limited testing, differences in counting the dead and concealment by some governments.
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The pandemic has especially affected the military community.
More than 1 million veterans filed for unemployment benefits in April, remote mental health appointments have skyrocketed and reports warn that many industries that employ veterans could be harder hit by the coronavirus.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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