Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie announced that veterans hospitals would be reducing routine medical visits and dental care to focus on the coronavirus.
Wilkie said that routine appointments had been reduced by one-third and many elective surgeries had been canceled to free up hospital equipment and doctors to respond to the coronavirus.
“We also took the next step and made sure that we limited the dental surgeries that we provided. We’ve cut back by one-third the number of routine appointments we have had. And we have canceled elective surgeries,” Wilkie said during a press conference on Wednesday.
He continued: “These were all part of the president’s directive to be as aggressive in a public health sense as we could be. I think we have set the pace for the entire country.”
Wilkie noted that the department was responsible for assisting federal agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency during national emergencies. He said the department was ready to do as much as possible to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
“Our first three missions are healthcare, benefits, and memorial affairs. Our fourth mission is to support the federal government in times of natural disasters and pandemics. We are the buttress force in case that FEMA or [the Department of Health and Human Services] calls upon us to deploy medical professionals across the country to meet crises,” Wilkie said.
“We plan for that every day,” he said. “We are gaming out emergency preparedness scenarios, and we stand ready when the president needs us to expand our mission.”
Wilkie noted later in the briefing that 44 veterans tested positive for the coronavirus, and one veteran died after contracting the illness.
“Those who have needed to be tested, we believe that we have caught most of them. Right now, we have 44 veterans who have tested positive. Sadly, one has passed in Portland. We are working with state labs and private companies to make sure that testing is available,” Wilkie said, noting that “several hundred” veterans had already been tested for the virus.
