More than 10,000 VA patients have died from coronavirus February 17 VA Secretary Denis McDonough speaks Michael Heimall, director of the Washington, D.C. VA Medical Center, during a tour of the facility's COVID-19 Vaccination tent on Feb. 10, 2021. (Robert Turtil/Department of Veterans Affairs) More than 10,000 Veterans Affairs patients have died from complications related to coronavirus in less than 11 months, another grim milestone in the ongoing global pandemic. As of Wednesday morning, VA officials had reported 10,059 deaths among veterans and other patients being tracked by department medical officials. The department’s first death was reported on March 18, 2020. Since then, VA has averaged about 30 deaths a day connected to the virus. However, more than 60 percent of the deaths — 6,059 — have come since Nov. 1.