Veterans Affairs ordered nearly $300,000 in body bags due to coronavirus

The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) ordered almost $300,000 worth of body bags in April amid the coronavirus pandemic.

A contract document first reviewed by Politico shows that the VA ordered the body bags from a major contractor called ISO Group on April 15.

The VA has seen its number of COVID-19 cases and death rise. As of Thursday, 8,500 VA patients had tested positive for the virus and nearly 500 had died. Since the VA signed the contract on April 15, it has reported 3,000 new cases.

It is unclear if the purchase of the body bags was related to the pandemic or how many bags were purchased.

The Hill has reached out to the VA for comment.

The Trump administration ordered over 100,000 body bags in April, for a reported $5.1 million. The order was placed was the day after President Trump said that the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus might not exceed 50,000 or 60,000 people.

“One is too many. I always say it: One is too many,” Trump said at an April 20 White House briefing. “But we’re going toward 50- or 60,000 people. That’s at the lower — as you know, the low number was supposed to be 100,000 people.”