Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)
Update COVID-19 vaccination
Many VA facilities and clinics offer COVID-19 vaccines to:- All Veterans
- Spouses and surviving spouses of Veterans
- Caregivers of Veterans. For COVID-19 vaccine eligibility, we define a caregiver as a family member or friend who provides care to a Veteran. Caregivers may help a Veteran with personal needs like feeding, bathing, or dressing. They may also help a Veteran with tasks like shopping or transportation.
- Recipients of Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) benefits
Visit Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Coronavirus page for the latest information.
What is VA doing?
VA has implemented an aggressive public health response to protect and care for Veterans, their families, health care providers, and staff. Safe care is our mission.
- See real-time, map-based data on COVID-19 case counts.
Much of our work during the pandemic is described within our COVID-19 response plan. Plan installment 1 covers the period of January 2020 through June 2020. Plan installment 2 covers the period July 2020 through January 2021.
Additional information can be found on the COVID-19 Response Reports page.
Part of the department’s “Fourth Mission” is to support non-VA health care systems in the event those systems encounter capacity issues. VA is currently supporting COVID-19 response efforts within non-VA health care systems.
- VA New Jersey Health Care System, East Orange campus, to assist COVID-19 response(PDF)
- VA to assist New York City with COVID-19 response
- VA announces ‘Fourth Mission,’ actions to help America respond to COVID-19
- VA COVID-19 Support of States
State Home COVID-19 Data
In accordance with Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020, Public Law 116-315, State Homes will report COVID-19 related information to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and to the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) weekly. State Homes (SHs) are owned and operated by individual States and all data are self-reported by the SHs. VA is required to post publicly the total numbers of SH COVID-19 cases and deaths among residents and staff. SHs (Skilled Nursing Facilities and Domiciliaries) are providing data to the CDC which has been a requirement for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) accredited programs since May 2020. VHA has been working with SHs to assist them in reporting to the CDC if they had not been previously. This data set will change as SHs report new data or enter corrections on NHSN to previously reported data. This report reflects the CDC data totals for the reporting facilities from May 2020 through March 12, 2023. For consistency with CMS reporting, the totals reported do not include cases or deaths prior to 5/25/2020.
In the week ending March 12, 2023, State Homes reported that there had been 126 new COVID-19 cases among residents. The State Homes reported the Veteran status for 122 (97%) of these cases. Of the reports that included Veteran status: 108 were Veteran cases and 14 were other resident cases, which may include spouses of Veterans or Gold Star parents. The State Homes reported 0 COVID-19 Veteran deaths that occurred during the week ending March 12, 2023 and 0 other resident deaths that week. In the week ending March 12, 2023, there were 166 new staff cases and 0 staff deaths.
This posting was updated March 23, 2023 and further updates will be posted weekly.
VA is providing a downloadable spreadsheet with reports for individual SHs. This spreadsheet will be updated each week. VA is also displaying a graph showing time trends for cases and deaths among residents and staff.
As expected, there is variability in data in NHSN over time as SHs have newly enrolled and reported data, and as SHs amended past data previously reported.
SH COVID information file - MS Excel format
State Home COVID Cases
State Home COVID Deaths
Additional COVID-19 nursing home information can be found on the CMS website at: https://data.cms.gov/stories/s/COVID-19-Nursing-Home-Data/bkwz-xpvg/ for those SHs that are CMS certified.
What should Veterans do?
Veterans with symptoms such as fever, cough, or shortness of breath should immediately contact their local VA facility. VA urges Veterans to contact VA before visiting – you can find contact information for your closest VA facility. Alternatively, Veterans can sign into My HealtheVet to send secure messages to their VA providers or use telehealth options to explain their condition and receive a prompt diagnosis.
Read responses to Veterans' frequently asked questions about accessing their VA benefits.
Upon arriving at VA, all patients will be screened for flu-like symptoms before they enter in order to protect other patients and staff. A VA health care professional will assist you with next steps once this screening process is complete.
At this time, VA is urging all visitors who do not feel well to please postpone their visits to VA facilities.
How can you protect yourself
Get a Covid-19 vaccine.
- Learn to use VA Video Connect through the VA mobile app store or by contacting your VA care team, before any urgent problems arise.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water.
- Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 70% alcohol.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
- Stay home when you are sick or becoming sick.
- Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue (not your hands) and throw the tissue in the trash.
- Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.
- Get vaccinated against flu to prevent illness.
For more information
In accordance with the Office of Management and Budget’s Memorandum M-20-21, all financial information that agencies are required to report concerning their disposition of CARES Act and other supplemental COVID-19 appropriated funds is publicly available on USAspending.gov*, specific information regarding COVID-19 spending can be found on the COVID-19 Spending profile page http://usaspending.gov/covid-19*.
* Links with an asterisk (*) next to them will take you outside the VA website. VA is not responsible for the content of the linked site.
