White House plans to end COVID-19 health emergencies in May
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The Biden Administration plans to end the COVID-19 emergency declarations on May 11, the White House announced Monday.
The announcement was made in a formal statement opposing two House bills that would immediately end both the public health emergency and the national emergency, which were enacted on Jan. 31 and March 13, 2020, respectively.
Both declarations were made after WHO declared a global public health emergency — which remains in place indefinitely following a meeting of the Emergency Committee on Friday — and have been extended several times throughout the pandemic.
Monday’s announcement falls in line with the Biden Administration’s assurance that the U.S. would receive a 60-day “wind-down” before the end of the declarations.
"An abrupt end to the emergency declarations would create wide-ranging chaos and uncertainty throughout the health care system — for states, for hospitals and doctors' offices, and, most importantly, for tens of millions of Americans," Monday’s statement read.
The statement said that continuing the emergency declarations through May 11 will not impose any restrictions on individuals such as mask or vaccine mandates or on school or business operations.
Ending the declarations will, however, have “significant impacts” on COVID-19-related health system and government operations.
According to the statement, throughout the public health emergency, Medicaid has operated under special rules to provide extra funding to states and ensure that tens of millions of Americans kept their coverage throughout the pandemic.
If the declaration were to end abruptly, it would “sow confusion and chaos into this critical wind-down,” the statement said.
Perspective
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Amesh A. Adalja, MD
I think ending the national emergency is the correct decision. This is not something that was going to continue indefinitely.
When you look at how far the country has come in terms of medical countermeasures for COVID-19, as well as the lack of concern regarding hospital capacity, because of those countermeasures, the nation is in a very different place currently.
The key is making some of the emergency measures, such as decreased regulatory burden on telemedicine and opioid replacement therapy, permanent. It is also important that the medical countermeasures that are available only under emergency use authorization get full licensure.
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