In January 2020, the U.S. government declared COVID-19 a public health emergency. Now, with coronavirus cases and deaths on the decline, that declaration is quickly approaching a predetermined expiration date.
“Ending the public health emergency signals that we think we’ve turned a corner in what was a pretty dark time in America,” says health policy researcher Leighton Ku, who heads the Center for Health Policy Research at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. (It’s not the first pandemic-related declaration to end. On April 10, President Joe Biden signed legislation ending the national emergency, which had been issued in March 2020 to waive some requirements for federal health insurance programs, such as to allow coverage of telehealth visits.)
Even as the public health emergency becomes yet another relic of a traumatic period, COVID-19 isn’t going away. More than 1,000 people in the United States died from COVID-19 from April 20 to April 26, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the coronavirus continues to evolve. Although not all new variants are worrisome, some can be (SN: 10/17/22). So it remains to be seen whether now is the time to let our guard down, Ku says.
Tests, drugs and vaccines will remain important tools to control the virus’ spread, and researchers hope to improve our arsenal. Here’s what the end of the public health emergency means for these efforts.
2023-05-04 07:00:00
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