There have been more than 15,000 Veterans Affairs patients who have died from the coronavirus since the onset of the pandemic.
More than 2,200 of the deaths came since the beginning of August, the Army Times reported. The VA death total does not include more than 200 department employees who have died from the virus.
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The death rate among VA patients who test positive for the virus is 4.4%, which is much higher than the 1.5% death rate for the public.
About 35% of the VA patients who died from COVID-19 were among inpatients at various facilities, while the rest were veterans with connections to the VA healthcare system who died at home and were later reported. VA officials have noted that the number is likely higher because they can only account for the deaths of veterans who have connections to the VA medical community.
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The Department of Defense has also reported 515 deaths, including military service members, civilians, dependents, and contractors.
To date, there have been more than 700,000 COVID-19-related deaths in the United States, while the global death toll is above 4.8 million people, according to Johns Hopkins University.
