By NIKKI WENTLING | STARS AND STRIPES Published: February 16, 2021
Stars and Stripes is making stories on the coronavirus pandemic available free of charge. See other free reports here. Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter here. Please support our journalism with a subscription. WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs on Tuesday extended its ban on evictions and foreclosures until June 30. The extension was made as part of an action by President Joe Biden on Tuesday morning to extend a ban on home foreclosures for federally backed mortgages. The extension includes all properties secured by VA-guaranteed loans. It’s the second extension made in quick succession since Biden took office. On Jan. 29, the VA extended the ban on evictions and foreclosures until March 31.
Denis McDonough is the second VA secretary to not receive a unanimous or unopposed confirmation vote in the Senate. Former VA Secretary Robert Wilkie was also not confirmed unanimously.
. WASHINGTON As President Joe Biden’s team took over leadership of the Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday, the agency was facing its highest death rate since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. While Biden was being sworn in as the country’s 46th president, the VA reported another grim milestone: More than 8,000 patients had died of the virus 1,000 of those deaths occurring in the last 13 days. On Thursday, 8,221 veterans were dead, as well as 114 agency employees. The VA operates America’s largest health care system, and the task of treating coronavirus patients and vaccinating veterans and employees now falls to Biden’s team. On Wednesday, Biden replaced former VA Secretary Robert Wilkie with Dat Tran, a longtime VA employee and the principal deputy assistant secretary for the VA’s Office of Enterprise Integration. In addition, Biden put 12 other people in acting positions and named nine other permanent political appointees to the VA.
By STEVE BEYNON | STARS AND STRIPES Published: December 14, 2020
Stars and Stripes is making stories on the coronavirus pandemic available free of charge. See other free reports here. Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter here. Please support our journalism with a subscription. WASHINGTON The Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday administered its first doses of the coronavirus vaccine as part of national inoculation effort to prevent the disease as the death toll from the virus surpassed 300,000 in the United States. World War II Army veteran Margaret Klessens, 96, is the VA’s first patient to receive the vaccine, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie announced. She is a patient of the Bedford Healthcare System in Massachusetts. The Bedford VA system is a set of three clinics outside of Boston that has seen 473 coronavirus infections and 39 deaths, according to the VA.
VA receives 73,000 coronaviruses vaccines in initial distribution stripes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stripes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.