By the numbers: VA’s coronavirus response one year later March 4 A staffer at the VA Caribbean Healthcare System in San Juan, Puerto Rico, checks the temperature of an incoming visitor during a coronavirus symptoms check on March 19, 2020. (1st Sgt. Rodolfo Armando Barrios Quinones/Army) One year ago today, Veterans Affairs officials announced their first patient to contract COVID-19, a Northern California veteran tested positive after being admitted to the department’s Palo Alto medical center. Since then, the virus has infected more than 230,000 VA patients and staffers and played a role in the deaths of more than 10,700 of them. It forced the temporary closure of nearly every veterans benefits centers and cemeteries across the country, and necessitated major operations changes at every medical facility.
March 3 Acting VA Under Secretary for Health Dr. Richard Stone (right) helps administer a coronavirus vaccine dose to a local resident during a mass vaccination event at the Yonkers Armory in New York on March 3, 2021. The event was part of VA s Fourth Mission responsibilities to provide backup medical care to local communities. (Photo courtesy of VA) Veterans Affairs officials still have millions of coronavirus vaccines to distribute in coming months, but they are already warily eyeing the next massive medical challenge to follow: making up millions of medical appointments for veterans who have put off routine and specialty care because of virus concerns.