Coronavirus Outbreak – How the Federal Non-States are Impacted

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Highlights...

1. Veterans Affairs -- With the help of its 1,000+ medical facilities, the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) takes care of nearly nine million enrolled veterans each year. Since the VA owns and operates its own facilities, it has been tasked with caring for its own coronavirus victims as well. As of now, it has a total caseload of roughly 12K. To put things in proper perspective, its current caseload is larger than many mainland states, including WI (11.2K), AL (10.9K), MO (10.6K), MS (10.5K), NE (9K) and SC (8.2K). Though its active cases have come down to 2,557 (22%), it has been registering a death rate of 8.26%, which is higher than the national average of 5.97%. On the other hand, its positivity rate of 9.11% is much lower than the national average of 13.75%.

2. US Military -- Given the US Military's very aggressive and proactive medical services, its death rate of 0.33% has been the lowest among all state and non-state entities. Again, it has a higher caseload than many mainland states like KS (7.6K), KY (7.3K), DE (7.2K), UT (6.7K), NV (6.5K) and NM (5.4K). Of course, its active caseload remains high at 58%. Since its positivity rate is unknown, it is difficult to compare its case population with that of the VA's. 

3. Federal Prisons -- The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has 138,954 federal inmates in BOP-managed institutions and 11,518 in community-based facilities. Since 2.5% of the federal inmate population has already been infected, US Attorney General William Barr "ordered officials running federal prisons to immediately maximize the release of prisoners to home confinement to prevent the spread of the virus." Though the death rate is still low, absent better mitigation, the high active cases may lead to more criticality and fatality.

4. Navajo Nation -- It comprises a total population of roughly 357K, located primarily in the southwestern part of the country. Its caseload is larger than those of certain mainland states including NH (3.3K), ID (2.3K), ND (1.7K), ME (1.6K) and WV (1.4K). The fact that it has a very high rate of positive cases (21%) along with a recent surge in death tolls calls for enhanced on-site testing and stricter mitigation restrictions. Its limited access to treatment is reflected in the extremely high active caseload of 96%. At this point, this population will be best served by the South Korean-style mobile medical services. Given the congested living, its testing and medical needs are clear and present.
  
Stay safe!

Data Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

-Sid Som
homequant@gmail.com