Nearly 2,000 VA health care workers have been diagnosed with coronavirus: report

Nearly 2,000 health care workers with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) system have been infected with the novel coronavirus, including 20 deaths thus far.

Agency documents indicate 1,900 VA health personnel have tested positive, The Associated Press reported, citing agency documents. Another 3,600 employees have been quarantined due to concerns about exposure.

Internal documents obtained by the AP indicate that VA facilities are coping with a combination of a worker shortage and insufficient personal protective equipment (PPE). In addition to the cases and deaths among VA personnel, more than 5,700 veterans treated by the VA have contracted the virus and nearly 380 have died.

A Labor Department investigation into the situation at the VA is currently underway, with several congressional Democrats planning to call on President Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act to increase supplies to VA facilities in a letter Thursday, according to the AP.

Heather Espinal, a nurse at a New York City VA medical center, said the facility has been severely understaffed because of how many workers are out sick, and said she and her colleagues were told to use single N95 face masks for entire shifts rather than switching to a new one for each patient.

Espinal tested positive for the virus in early April and was out sick for two weeks, telling the AP, “I definitely believe it was related to me being at work.”

The department, meanwhile, said that the VA is not experiencing a supply shortage and that it has followed federal health guidelines in rationing personal protective equipment.

“VA’s PPE conservation posture is precisely why the department has not encountered any PPE shortages that have negatively impacted patient care or employee safety,” VA spokeswoman Christina Mandreucci told the AP, saying the VA has hired 3,183 people, including nearly 1,000 nurses, between March 29 and April 11.