Visitation to Veterans Home suspended

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This week the Department of Veterans Affairs banned virtually all visitors from its nursing homes and spinal cord injury centers to protect patients from exposure to the coronavirus. The list of 134 facilities nationwide includes the William F. Green Veterans Home in Bay Minette.

VA officials said exceptions will be made for patients who are approaching the end of his or her life.

VA has the largest health care network in the country, tasked with caring for more than 9 million service members and veterans. More than half of those patients are older than 65, which is an especially vulnerable population to the disease. 

The department has at least six coronavirus patients in its care, with five of them waiting for official confirmation, a VA official said Tuesday in a press release. Those patients are located in California, Nevada, Louisiana, Seattle, Virginia and Oregon.

The number of known coronavirus cases in the United States continues to grow quickly. As of Wednesday morning, there have been at least 1,015 cases of coronavirus confirmed by lab tests and 31 deaths. There are no known cases in Alabama.