Almost $300,000 worth of body bags have been ordered by the Department of Veterans Affairs due to the coronavirus.
Politico said a contracting document shows the bags were ordered from a major contractor called ISO Group as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The start date on the document is April 15. It does not specify how many body bags were ordered.
The VA website noted Friday morning that 8,758 patients of the VA have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and 512 have died.
Politico said it was uncertain whether the VA purchased the body bags because it expected a jump in patient deaths or because officials plan to redistribute them.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency recently ordered 100,000 body bags at a cost of $5.1 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. And Politico noted that breaks down to $51 per bag.
If the VA paid a similar rate, it would have purchased almost 6,000 bags. If so, the number is considerably larger than the number of VA patients who have died from COVID-19.
Meanwhile, an advocacy group for the families of fallen service members is calling for the family members of National Guard and Reserve troops who've died due to coronavirus to receive survivor benefits.
The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors sent a letter detailing its request to the Committees on Veterans' Affairs in both the House and the Senate.