COVID-19
If you served during certain periods of service and develop COVID-19 it will be presumptively linked to service. HOWEVER, unlike other presumptives the symptoms of COVID-19 are NOT actually presumptive.
In-short, what the presumptive does do is establishes that you did develop the disease during service. The VA STILL has the right to request medical opinions as to if your claimed symptom(s) are related to COVID-19 or not.
Kinda toothless in terms of how the other presumptives go, but it does open the door for expansion in the future.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
You CANNOT actually get service-connection for COVID-19! As the virus infection itself is an acute non-chronic condition. This presumptive instead is the presumption that if you catch COVID-19 during certain time frames that it was caught during your military service.
Claim NOTE:
When making a claim for COVID-19, you should claim it as "Residuals of COVID-19: [Your symptom(s)]".
NOTE:
There is NO required percentage for the symptoms of COVID-19 to obtain service connection.
Eligibility
You MUST be diagnosed with COVID-19 DURING these periods of service OR within 14 days of separation!
IMPORTANT NOTES:
Your period of service MUST be longer than 2 DAYS (if you get a diagnosis DURING the period of service)!
If period of service was shorter than 2 DAYS and you were diagnosed within 14 days of separation you are still okay!
National Guard and Reservists do NOT need to supply a Line of Duty (LOD) (if they have an eligible period of service)!
Active Duty (AD)
Served between March 1, 2020 to January 5, 2024.
Active Duty for Training (ADT), Active Guard Reserve (AGR) to include Title 32, and Inactive Duty Training (IADT)
Served between March 13, 2020 to January 5, 2024.