Covid Public Health Emergencies to End May 11. Does it Matter?
President Joe Biden announced yesterday (30 Jan 2023) that he intends to end the Covid-19 national and public health emergencies on May 11. Biden's move comes only a few weeks after he last extended the emergency on Jan. 11. What's changed in 19 days? His move appears to have been prompted by bills introduced in the Republican-controlled Congress to force an end to the emergency. Though such bills were unlikely to become law- the Democrat-majority Senate likely wouldn't have approved them, and the president could veto them if they did- Biden's move is seen as giving cover to Democrats in Congress who wish to avoid being forced to make a "show" vote.
What actually changes as a result of ending the emergencies in May? Very little, it turns out. In terms of public health policy, masks and other public health restrictions have been off the table for well over a year at this point. In terms of posture, Biden already announced the pandemic is basically over a year ago, as well. In terms of public perception, most of the public already considered it over- meaning, considered public health recommendations such as wearing masks or avoiding indoors crowds unnecessary- even before that.
What the general public will notice as a change after May 11 is that certain things won't be free anymore. The program providing free at-home Covid tests will end. Tests in clinics will no longer be free. Some Covid treatments, e.g. monoclonal antibodies, will no longer be free. At least Covid vaccines will still be free. Those are funded by a different federal law.
The end of these emergencies was announced while the death toll due to Covid is still 500/day. 500 seems like not such a large number, right? Certainly it's way lower than the 3,000 deaths per day we saw during the worse surges. But do the math.... 500/day is over 180,000/year. That's around 5x as many deaths as from influenza. 180k/year still puts Covid as the #4 overall cause of death among adults in the US. And those figures are without another huge spike like the Omicron surge we saw a year ago.
What actually changes as a result of ending the emergencies in May? Very little, it turns out. In terms of public health policy, masks and other public health restrictions have been off the table for well over a year at this point. In terms of posture, Biden already announced the pandemic is basically over a year ago, as well. In terms of public perception, most of the public already considered it over- meaning, considered public health recommendations such as wearing masks or avoiding indoors crowds unnecessary- even before that.
What the general public will notice as a change after May 11 is that certain things won't be free anymore. The program providing free at-home Covid tests will end. Tests in clinics will no longer be free. Some Covid treatments, e.g. monoclonal antibodies, will no longer be free. At least Covid vaccines will still be free. Those are funded by a different federal law.
The end of these emergencies was announced while the death toll due to Covid is still 500/day. 500 seems like not such a large number, right? Certainly it's way lower than the 3,000 deaths per day we saw during the worse surges. But do the math.... 500/day is over 180,000/year. That's around 5x as many deaths as from influenza. 180k/year still puts Covid as the #4 overall cause of death among adults in the US. And those figures are without another huge spike like the Omicron surge we saw a year ago.