COVID-19: President Joe Biden to End COVID-19 Emergency Declarations on May 11, 2023
AGN.News Team
January 31, 2023
WASHINGTON (AGN.News) – CDC: The United States federal government’s original COVID-19 Emergency Declarations will end on May 11, 2023 after about three years and two months.
The CDC and the White House announced the original public health COVID-19 Emergency Declarations on March 13, 2020, retroactive to March 1, 2020.
CDC: White House COVID-19 Announcement
On Monday January 30, 2023, President Joe Biden informed Congress that he will end the twin national emergencies for addressing COVID-19 on May 11, as most of the world has returned closer to normalcy nearly three years after they were first declared.
The move to end the national emergency and public health emergency declarations would formally restructure the federal coronavirus response to treat the virus as an endemic threat to public health that can be managed through existing agencies’ normal authorities.
It comes as lawmakers have already ended elements of the emergencies that kept millions of Americans insured during the pandemic. Combined with the drawdown of most federal COVID-19 relief money, it would also shift the development of vaccines and treatments away from the direct management of the federal government.
President Biden’s announcement comes in a statement opposing resolutions being brought to the floor this week by House Republicans to bring the emergency to an immediate end. House Republicans are also gearing up to launch investigations on the federal government’s response to COVID-19.
The emergencies have been repeatedly extended by Biden since he took office in January 2021 and are set to expire in the coming months. The White House said Biden plans to extend them both briefly to end on May 11.
An immediate end causes chaos
The public health emergency provided funding for government resources from the Department of Health and Human Services to allocate help to state and public health organizations including hospitals.
It also allowed FEMA and the Pentagon to help distribute medications, vaccines, and other medical supplies to areas of the country in need of those supplies. This had the effect of strengthening the local and national economy.
The Office of Management and Budget wrote in a Statement of Administration Policy as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday.
It says, “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.”
The Biden administration’s request for billions more dollars to extend free COVID vaccines and testing was not approved by Congress.
What will happen as a result?
The $1.7 trillion spending package passed last year and signed into law by Biden put an end to a rule that barred states from kicking people off Medicaid, a move that is expected to see millions of people lose their coverage after April 1.
The costs of COVID-19 vaccines are also expected to skyrocket once the government stops buying them, with Pfizer saying it will charge as much as $130 per dose. Only 15% of Americans have received the recommended, updated booster that has been offered since last fall.
Once the emergency expires, people with private insurance will have some out-of-pocket costs for vaccines, tests and treatment, while the uninsured will have to pay for those expenses in their entirety.
Some good news for many families
Legislators did extend telehealth flexibilities that were introduced as COVID-19 came to the country, leading health care systems around the country to regularly deliver care by smartphone or computer.
A senior administration official said the three months until the expiration would mark a transition period where the administration will “begin the process of a smooth operational wind-down of the flexibilities enabled by the COVID-19 emergency declarations.” The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the announcement before it had been released.
CDC: COVID-19 deaths nationwide
More than 1.1 million people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19 since 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including about 3,756 last week and 3,726 hospitalizations last week.
On January 27, 2023, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says Omicron Subvariant XBB.1.5 accounts for 61.3% of US COVID cases.
An analysis from CDC showed on Wednesday that updated COVID-19 boosters from Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE and Moderna helped prevent symptomatic infections against the new XBB-related subvariants.
While most of the country has returned to some semblance of normalcy, COVID-19 is still a deadly virus. This fact requires everyone to be alert when transiting so-called ‘hot spots’ across the country.
This announcement allows everyone to take positive actions to protect their families including testing and vaccinations. Businesses can take actions to protect their employees and customers.
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COVID-19 PREVENTION
STOP THE SPREAD! GET VACCINATED!
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Everyone is being urged by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC.gov) to get vaccinated, wear masks, practice social distancing, and wash hands as a way to cut down on the transmission rate in areas where COVID-19 is on the rise.
For more information on local responses to the novel coronavirus also called … COVID-19, contact your local healthcare provider, visit coronavirus.gov or visit cdc.gov for the United States response to the coronavirus.
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