{"id":119099,"date":"2021-05-25T18:28:57","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T18:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/05\/25\/zero-covid-deaths-among-veterans-affairs-patients-for-the-first-time-in-14-months\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:27:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:27:03","slug":"zero-covid-deaths-among-veterans-affairs-patients-for-the-first-time-in-14-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/05\/25\/zero-covid-deaths-among-veterans-affairs-patients-for-the-first-time-in-14-months\/","title":{"rendered":"Zero COVID deaths among Veterans Affairs patients for the first time in 14 months"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For the first time in 14 months, Veterans Affairs officials reported no new COVID-related deaths<\/a> at department medical centers across the country on Monday, an encouraging sign that the pandemic<\/a> may be ending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you think back on the more than 12,000 deaths of veterans that have occurred, this is a sobering day,\u201d said Dr. Richard Stone, acting under secretary for health at VA. \u201cNo deaths is a testament to the hard work that our people have done to get the vaccine into people\u2019s arms and highlights the fact that the vaccine works.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last date with no reported VA COVID-related deaths was 433 days earlier, on March 18, 2020. Since the start of March 2020, more than 12,060 VA patients and 142 VA staffers have died from complications related to the virus, which has killed nearly 3.5 million individuals worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\t